


Oops! Spoilers.

by Kaylock



Series: Oops! I'm falling for Wally West. [1]
Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, It is tagged as a reader insert because it CAN be one, Minor references to Comics canon, Read the first note in the work, Reader Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-03-17 04:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 59,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13651794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaylock/pseuds/Kaylock
Summary: Victoria Winters has woken up to realize she is at Wayne manor speaking with THE Batman, Bruce Wayne, who up until now she had thought of as a merely fictional comic book character.After a long talk, Victoria has found herself inside the universe of the Young Justice series; with her knowledge on the timeline, she is now in the position to help the future and anything that might go wrong as things begin changing from her mere existence there.She is willing to do a lot so her favorite character gets to live; the tension to save him though grows when she starts falling in love with him.





	1. Prologue-01

**Author's Note:**

> This is STILL tagged as a reader insert, with the hopes that you may experience the chapter with the character having your own name
> 
> When it comes to physical features I did start adding some distinctions on the main character's features but hopefully they are little, still, when it comes to names you can copy this work in word and use the find feature, in it, you may click "Find and Replace", next I will write the many distinct names the protagonist may be called so you may change accordingly.
> 
> [Your Name] Victoria  
> [Your Surname] Winters  
> [Hero Nickname] Vixen  
> [Nickname 1] Vic  
> [Nickname 2] Vicky  
> [Nickname 3] Tori  
> [Hero nickname 1] Vixie  
> [Hero nickname 2] Vix
> 
> I hope these are all the replacements, if they are not, please do tell me so I can update this chart; hopefully, the main character is ambiguous enough for your comfort!

**GOTHAM CITY**  
**May 31st, 23:23EDT**

As it had been foreseen for already about three months during a reunion of the Justice League, there was a fluctuation of energy at the other side of the city of Gotham; The Batman was waiting patiently out on a roof as the clouds centered mostly around a specific point in the sky.

He didn’t have to wait much longer, in the blink of an eye a blinding light came and went, leaving as only trace of it ever having been there a body now falling rapidly from up high; the bat quickly reacted and rushed up to it, thankfully high enough to catch the body in arms without damage done.

The weight of a teenager on his arms he looked carefully at the person he was holding, an unconscious girl, not much older than Robin —He guessed— but still rather short. A person who didn’t belong on this universe.

Without much more ado he quickly disappeared into the night.

**WAYNE MANOR**  
**June 1st, 00:37AM**

In a cozy bed with warm blankets over her figure laid a young girl comfortably, her eyes opened slightly but tiredly in the darkness, they almost immediately closed again, but the dull pain on her head that had awakened her in the first place pulsed again; she was really close to ignoring it and going back to her peaceful slumber…until her thoughts allowed her to realize she wasn’t on her own bed.

She dejectedly started rubbing at her eyes, getting rid of any trace of the Sandman. Rising from the bed she squinted to find any light, and once she turned on the lamp over the bedside she inspected the room she sat in. It was hard to be too worried when the room you woke up in was so nice, but she was cautious, it obviously belonged to someone with money and she didn’t know if she should be grateful or terrified at the knowledge.

Once up on her feet, she found her boots on the floor; quickly she dragged the left over her feet but stopped on the right one, noticing her phone laying inside. Weird, but she wouldn’t complain, her phone as she could have expected had no battery though, so she shoved it into her pocket and walked towards the door of the room.

The female pressed her ear to the door, no use in panicking yet, she forced herself to think rationally and as calm as possible over the situation she was in; there was no noise outside so she reached for the knob and turned it as quietly as possible, hoping it indeed wasn’t holding her captive.

After it turned with no problem she sighed slightly in relief, walking out of the room her eyes were met with a long hallway directing to a different floor of the mansion where she could see from her place a big chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the hallway itself was tastefully and lightly decorated, she couldn’t help admiring it as she neared the end of it. Once she got a better view of the floor below her her eyebrows lowered in a frown, not that the place wasn’t beautiful but there was some semblance of familiarity on it that she couldn’t understand, it didn’t make sense to her, because she was completely sure she had never been here in her life.

She calmed down slightly, after all, she wasn’t being restrained, not as far as she knew yet at least, but still, she could be in danger, so instead of taking risks she walked straight to the front door of the mansion, she had to get home and if it turned out the person who brought her here in the first place had good intentions, after all, she could perfectly thank them later, once she felt safe.

Just as she was about to reach out for the door the voice of a man was heard behind her “The streets are very dangerous at this time of the night miss, perhaps you should reconsider taking your leave already” she paled rapidly, while the voice was oddly comforting, the fact that she had been sure a moment ago that she was absolutely alone in the room definitely wasn’t.

Turning around she found herself staring at an old man, he stood tall and poised, regal, elegant, a man with an aura of respect around him, his hands on his back as he stared patiently at her, the hair at the sides of his head carefully styled and he was dressed in the manner she would always only recall butlers in cartoons dressing like.

He was a perfect replica of Alfred, The Batman’s butler.

As she reflected on this his voice was heard once again “I believe master Bruce wishes to speak with you, he is the man that brought you here, if you could follow me into the library I am sure you will find some answers” The Alfred look-alike explained while gesturing towards the door across the room.

The girl mumbled an _‘of course’_ chastising herself at her manners and being so speechless, she needed to calm down, but she couldn’t really think about getting out anymore, she could only TRY to process the words she had just heard, as they didn’t quite make sense in her head; did the man before her just said she was going to meet _‘Mater Bruce’_? What were the chances?

After the door was opened for her the girl nodded attempting a grateful gesture at the man before warily walking in. A lamp at the side of a desk allowed her to see a younger man leaning over a couple files, he had dark hair and hardened features, once she reached the table the younger man gestured towards the seat in front of him before looking up “Please sit down miss, I am sure we can make sense of this soon enough” his blue eyes observed her intently, as if he was examining her, as if he was scanning for her every motive and his pen rested beside the now closed file in front of him.

His features were a constant on her mind, she was sure she had seen him somewhere, somehow, but she had no idea when or how, maybe he was an actor? She was rambling inside her mind, and there was a nagging on the back of her head she thought was ridiculous, impossible, she kept thinking that she was with Bruce Wayne, in Gotham, but that was insane and yet it was obvious she wasn’t dreaming.

“The name is _Bruce Wayne_ ” The man continued as she took a seat “I would like to know if you remember anything from the past 2 to 3 hours, we found you unconscious downtown and tried to find any family but it was impossible as we did not know your name”

There was something on what he said —Besides, his name which also sent her reeling- That didn't quite fit in, he was not saying everything, he had investigated her, a man with so many resources trying to find information on you yet he claims and does seem to have found nothing.

And as she thought back to his name her thoughts where in a frenzy, she couldn’t stop thinking that right at this very moment she was stuck inside of a comic book in front of Batman, the real Batman, yet as absolutely crazy as that was something just clicked in her mind, she simply accepted it, this was real, this was happening, and what she needed answers about was on the how.

“If you are the man you claim to be, which at this point I am somehow very willing to believe, I think you’ll have a better idea of what exactly I am doing here” She started “As for me I have no idea how I could have gotten here, sitting right in front of the Batman” While knowing that her blunt response could make him highly wary of her she decided it was better than to go around with rodeos, besides, if he had indeed investigated her, Batman was the best she had have to explain what happened to her.

His eyes widened slightly but he frowned for a moment, expectantly, waiting for her to continue with what to an outsider could seem as insane claims

“In my world, this city doesn’t exist, Gotham is a merely fictional location originated from _’The Batman’_ comic books, the reason I know who you are, where I am, but I need a how” Hoping that would be enough for him to believe her she stared intently into his blue eyes which narrowed before he straightened up on his chair, arms resting before him on the desk while he pondered his next words.

“At eleven twenty-three PM three months ago the entire League started losing recollection of a recent huge battle that had ensued, the memories of the fight blurred until disappearing and we are only conscious of it having happened because of what we managed to keep record of together, the villain fought remains unknown but a couple effect the fight had on our world were noted of” Bruce explained calmly, professionally, this was everything she ever imagined from the man “The chaos and mayhem caused because of the battle somehow included a couple of people being erased from this reality, not only that but just as the battle itself these people were erased from people’s consciousness completely, no one could remember who was missing”

The girl stared with wide eyes at the man through his explanation and ransacked her mind for any comic in which this could have happened; the events sounded like those after Flashpoint, the ones by Kadabra, people missing from their timeline, forgotten, edited out, she wanted to say it, but she needed more information “How are these events related to my presence though?” and he provided

“Through this knowledge we realized that the event of removing people completely out of our universe would leave gaps on it, gaps that had to be filled because of its importance, unknown as to how these could be filled we started finding fluctuations in the veil of our universe, we predicted rips that could happen on it and prepared ourselves from them, after three months of observance at exactly 11:23, the same time our battle had concluded you came through a rip in the fabric of space”

“So you were expecting me, or well, not me, but something similar” She looked down at her legs thoughtfully “What I don't understand is why me exactly out of everyone but I guess that's something you cannot answer”

Bruce hummed in agreement “I have told you what I know, yet it remains an unfair exchange, so let’s even it out” He leaned forward on his desk to stare at her before asking “Who are you and how much do you know about our universe?” His eyebrow raised questioningly as he prepared himself for the answer

“My name is Victoria Winters, and most of your lives, this including Flash’s, Superman’s and many many others are carefully described on a series of comic books that have been around for close to 84 years, so I know a lot”

«•••»

It wasn’t until 5 AM that Bruce decided Victoria needed some rest, most likely because he himself had to start getting ready for work soon; it was hard for her to grasp really how little sleep this man was obviously used to getting, and concerning, their long conversation though was far from over.

They spent a good while explaining to each other their own worlds, for Victoria though what had to be explained was in which point of the timeline or universe she was in; it didn’t take too long before she realized she was at the moment inside the Young Justice universe, a month prior to the events leading to the formation of the team and Mount Justice becoming active once again.

As their talk progressed and a red-haired Kid Flash was mentioned, her theories on Kadabra being behind the incident seemed further away from true and Bruce seemed to have taken a page from Dick’s book because he seemed to start trusting her, she was highly relieved when she started noticing and made a note to make him aware she was definitely trustworthy. Meanwhile, though they had both accepted that there were many things she would have to keep secret from him, it was unsafe that a person who didn’t know all the implications of an event that would happen could know about it in the first place since changes would be meant to happen.

_«“While it is hard for me to accept I cannot be aware of these things you definitely can, so assuming this is the reason you were sent to our dimension I would like to be able to depend on your future knowledge” The man had said before sipping on the cup of coffee Alfred had gotten him_

_“Give me a moment, are you saying that you will be trusting me enough to make decisions that might change the timeline you exist in?” She asked absolutely shocked, she could not believe Bruce was telling her this, though, she reminds herself, this is a Bruce Wayne that has only had one Robin so far, Dick Grayson to booth_

_“At this point I don’t feel like I have much of a choice on the matter, and while I do want and will be keeping an eye on you, through the mere extension of this chat I can see you care deeply for some of the people on this timeline, In all honesty even though I probably should I cannot suspect you would try to sabotage them in any way” He easily explained, and well, he had a point, that didn’t mean she should be any less ecstatic.»_

She was currently walking around her new room, wearing a boy shirt and sweatpants she could only imagine belonged to Dick, who somehow had yet to discover there was someone else on the manor —she had the idea that Alfred had something to do with that-, her clothes were ready to wash for her use later; Bruce had said she would need them to go out to buy any essentials and new clothes she might require, in between the essentials he had also mentioned a cellphone, after all, her old one was not meant to work correctly in this world and she would need more gadgets if she was to be working with him.

Working with him, _working with The Batman,_ she could not believe these words, she had merely known the man for a couple of hours and yet it had been decided she would be working with him; it wasn’t that hard to accept given the fact she had deep knowledge that could help the whole world with her and Bruce, of course, wanted to keep a keen eye on it so things wouldn’t go south, but still it was huge.

She threw herself in the bed she had woken up in as the light of the day started softly touching the curtains covering her windows, she had at least a couple of hours to sleep before she was meant to go out with Alfred, so for now, she smiled and closed her eyes excited for what was to come.


	2. The Mistress-02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most unbelievable changes are about to happen in her life as she gets ready to reside in the mansion of a comic book character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read the first chapter's notes so you can read this story with the main character having your name.

**WAYNE MANOR**   
**June 1st, 13:59EDT**

Victoria got out of the limousine with a couple of bags in her hands and Alfred in tow, after some insistence the man let her know that he would be carrying most of her stuff and there wouldn’t be much she could do about it, so they both walked inside the manor with her new things in grasp.

Even though she was aware that for a man as rich as the one that had just taken her in what she bought wouldn’t be much she had still found herself worrying about prices and not wasting too much while shopping, it wasn’t until Alfred pushed her into buying more things that caught her eye that she finally dared to.

The man was too nice, she had worried about him not liking her much, namely, because of how she remembered things going with Damian (Even though she had definitely not acted as a spoiled brat), but of course things went much more positively; he really didn’t seem to mind her, in fact, she was sure he had been trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible and she could really appreciate that.

As they walked up the stairs she gave herself a moment to remember Bruce’s words the day before

_«"Dick should be back by 3:50," Bruce said "Since Alfred will be picking him up the both of you have until 3 pm to go shopping for anything you might require, essentials, clothes and perhaps something else you might need, a new cellphone, for example, could be a good idea, as I doubt your old one would work here as a communication device, I will be back by then for us all to talk through lunch" With a nod and a look he turned back around opening the doors, the start of an engine softly heard as he pulled out of the manor leaving an excited and grinning girl behind him.»_

Just in a couple of hours she would be meeting Dick Grayson, but the knowledge of how warm and receiving the boy could be didn’t do much to appease her nerves; while shopping Alfred had suggested getting a new computer one of these days too, after she had settled in, but the more she taught about it the more she hoped Dick could help her find one. Dick would be the best at finding a much more than a decent computer for her, she was betting on that, and maybe even on helping her make an even better one! Help her find an awesome graphics card, everything she might need.

First, though she would have to reassure herself she could be good friends with him, that was something she really wanted! Hanging out with Robin? It seemed like a dream come true, so she could only hope he did like her.

After Alfred had lowered the bags he had been holding, the man turned to the distracted girl “Is there anything else you might require Mistress Victoria? Since it is still too early to pick Master Richard from the academy we could fix up your new clothes on the dresser” He offered

 _Mistress Victoria_ , she had no idea how she would ever get used to that, but as far as she was concerned it wouldn’t stop being a thing as long as she lived in this house, and in all honesty, she kinda liked it, it made her feel like _she was_ _part of the household too_ , and that could never be bad.

“No Alfred, that’s alright, I will fix them up myself and take a shower, thank you” She shook her head and smiled, the man bowed his head lightly a there and left the room, closing the door behind him.

After he left the girl reached out inside one of the bags with her, soon two chargers were connected to the outlet besides her bed, one charging her new phone and one her old one, she still had some hope on her old phone holding some information, some comics she could still save, things she could forget.

Forgetting for a moment about fixing her closet her feet dragged her to the bathroom adjacent to her room, she stared at herself in front of the mirror intently, carving every detail to memory, it wasn’t that she couldn’t remember her face, but ever since she had gotten here there were differences, small, almost unnoticeable but still there. Her eyes, were the biggest change on her face, overtime she looked at them they were a different color, her skin was smoother, no blemishes, other features, in general, seemed more delicate than she remembered, more grown up?

Now the next big difference wasn’t on her face, she lifted her shirt up, letting herself stare at her abdomen, an abdomen that did not belong to her; it wasn’t that she didn’t do exercise, she did, but there were also times in which she had been too much of a couch potato to have a body like this, without any chubbiness, or some extra fat, it wasn’t a lot of muscle, she wasn’t too thin either, but she simply looked pretty fit in general.

The dimensional travel had not been just that, no, she got the idea that it had also prepared her to be a part of this world, to fit in.

**3:00 PM**

Time flew by and soon Alfred had left to pick Dick up just as Bruce arrived at the manor.

The girl and man both discussed more of the situation she was now in sitting in the living room and at that moment he found the timing to tell her he would be presenting her to the Justice League in three days

“It will be easier that way to present you in the future as my new protégé” He easily stated while the girl just looked at him in awe

“Excuse me, protégé? You mean, like Robin?” Her voice rose slightly in her excitement while the corners of his mouth were slightly rising up

“If you want to, of course, I assumed that with training it would be much easier for you to help directly in whichever way might be necessary for the sake of this timeline and its future events, since you are so willing to help too it just seemed like the best way to, of course, though if you feel that might be unnecessary you can always help in other ways in the shadows”

“No!” She answered a bit too quickly “It’s better if I am right there, yes! Directly, I’d love to” she excitedly blurted out and the conversation continued, soon it shifted a little as she decided to explain the discovery she had made earlier.

“I seem to be more fit than I was in my universe, as if I have done more exercise than what I am used to” She started explaining “I feel like when I came here that aspect of myself changed so that I could fit in better for whichever role I am supposed to fill here”

The man looked at her for a moment, contemplatively “We will be training at the manor’s gym after 5:30 to test your endurance and any other physical skills” His words made her pursue her lips slightly before she nodded, while she knew this was a big part on her becoming an actual vigilante and not a liability…training with Batman was something she was allowed to dread.

Right after this the sound of the main gates opening and closing behind a car was heard and Victoria stiffened slightly, trying and succeeding in maintaining her composure, but in the back of her mind, she was still nervous.

Just as the doors flew open though her eyes met with the brightest pair of blue, a dark-haired boy entered and looked at her curiously.

«•••»

All through lunch the conversation revolved around filling Dick into what was happening, how the situation at hand came to be and what would come of it; the teen asked many questions and she gladly answered them to the best of her capacity. Luckily, her nervousness was quickly smashed as the boy kept asking amazed, he was excited! He was happy! In fact right after the meal and a quick change of clothes he was rushing her through the hallways and into the gym.

_«”There is absolutely no one else who can teach you how to be as agile as me” The boy quickly stated matter of factly before the hand of his mentor fell on his shoulder_

_“That may be true, but right now what we need is to find the extent of Victoria’s current abilities to see were to start with her training” The man followed gruffly “As of tomorrow she will be undergoing the appropriate training until she comes to a level in which she might be able to join us for patrol and other activities, for now, we will just be assessing her skills”»_

That is how she ended up at 10PM laying back on her bed exhausted, but happy, a big grin had barely left her face throughout the day.

After they were finished at the gym though, Bruce had stopped her for a moment to talk

_«”Your eyes have been changing colors throughout the day” He bluntly stated, “Is it something you are used to?” He questioned in a low voice_

_Her eyebrows creased while she thought for a moment “No, and I haven’t looked carefully but ever since I got here I have seen them in different colors” she admitted»_

Right after that she had been taken for the first time into the Batcave, to run a couple of mental tests, she wasn’t a metahuman, she didn’t have any super abilities like flying or shooting lasers, but Bruce did find that her capacity for learning was much faster than regular, which was already a wonderful skill, besides that and her change of eye color —which would thankfully be hidden behind her mask—, he didn’t find anything else.

This was also a convenient skill, just like her body had changed to fit in here her mind would be able to learn much faster, which to fit in the world of superheroes without having any powers was amazing, she didn’t have Bruce’s or Dick’s experience, yet if she took the time they did on learning she could become a liability, it wouldn’t have been fast enough with her regular learning capacities

With her abilities, she could learn a new language in a month or less by herself, battling techniques and years of different science courses just in time to actually put them in practice, though, she doubted the battling techniques would be as simple out of theory.

«•••»

Days went by in a similar fashion, Dick would come back from school and still have the energy to rush her over to the gym after lunch, fortunately for her the new body she had wasn’t just looks, she was agiler, she was faster and while her endurance had already been good it had gotten even better.

It took her less time than normal to learn hand to hand combat techniques and do amazing stunts, but she doubted she would ever reach Dick; not that she was bothered by it, it was only an obvious fact that she was nowhere near the boy’s level, still, she was getting pretty decent with time.

Dick and she had been working around a fitting nickname for her hero persona, the term Batgirl came out at some moment but she greatly denied it.

It was on Bruce’s proposal that they found a fitting one, of course, it was also an animal name.

“She is sly and cunning, she is not airborne like Robin, but she is not completely feet on the ground, the most fitting name is Vixen” And she became a red fox. She could almost hear a future Jason Todd grumbling _‘Are there no other colors?’_

Soon classes were over and with that Dick managed more time to just hang out together outside of training and while he wasn’t busy being Robin, they joked around and became more comfortable around each other’s company, the fact that she already knew so much about his life bringing some trust instead of strain on their relationship, it was easier too, if he didn’t want to explain something she would easily understand, when it would be her turn to speak about herself and her own life before this he would easily return the favor.

Throughout this time she learned an important detail. Barbara Gordon did not exist.

Officer Gordon had a different family on this timeline and she had no idea how much could be affected by this, he had a wife and a son, her suspicions over the boy’s name turned out right, the name of the boy was Tony.

She had tried to tell Bruce about this, but alas, the man seemed to have forgotten completely about the great battle that had ensued and made people disappear from existence, as far as she could tell the league didn’t have any information about it either.

It seemed like Barbara was gone forever and Victoria worried greatly about what this could mean for the timeline, she worried who else might be gone…

She was now too just like the man of the house finding less and less time for a healthy sleeping schedule, between training, taking many online courses on various subjects and learning some programming with Dick she also had her own little project.

Using her old phone she found it mostly empty of anything else but conveniently placed files and files on comic books, mostly Batman and Flash comic books in which she could read almost the whole timeline. She dedicated herself to transcribing key points of the timeline into a detailed planner, so that nothing that could and _should or shouldn’t_ be changed would pass her by.

Besides, you couldn’t hack a paper book and this one was kept under key.

Finally though, the fourth of July came closer.

Dick had been waiting eagerly for the day in which the protégés would be welcome into the headquarters of The Justice League, it was a dream come true.

Victoria though a fast learner had just been under Bruce’s care for a month and was thus not considered ready to be Batman’s protégé just yet. “Soon,” The man said, and she knew he meant it, but it still meant she couldn’t go to the HQ that day without having to tell him about crucial points in the timeline or rising suspicion to the leaguers.

But she would be going.

After Robin and Batman had left to stop Mr.Freeze she had her opening, donning her new suit she escaped the manor carefully, the bat and butler would have to understand her reasoning later.

After all, today is the day.


	3. Independence Day-03

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vixen reaches the boys before they leave to Cadmus, hopefully, she is ready for the consequences and what comes next.

**WASHINGTON, D.C.**   
**HALL OF JUSTICE**   
**July 4th, 14:05EDT**

She was waiting for the mentors and protégés to pass through the doors, it was loud with paparazzi’s, kids, bystanders, everyone admiring and most soon following inside the Hall of Justice after the heroes.

It wasn’t until things calmed down that she came out of hiding, out of the things Batman had been teaching her stealth was a really important one, and she liked to believe she had almost mastered it; quick on her feet, she disappeared behind the doors without grabbing attention for her costume in the chaos.

The heroes had gone through the doors and the crowd slowly dispersed, most disappearing upstairs to look from above.

The girl waited a couple moments behind a wall when the door opened once again, the young man she was waiting on had stomped out enraged and without a hat; not wasting a moment her hand flew to her utility belt, thankfully on ‘Batman protégé 101’ the first lessons consisted on using the artifacts handed to her, she had a small metallic ball in hand for just a moment before it was launched towards the door, silently sliding into the room just before the door was closed.

Vixen let her attention slide for a moment and stop on Speedy as he walked away, she was still wondering how to help him, what the best manner would be, or if things were meant to be the way she had seen. It was hard to make this kind of decisions, but right now she had to concentrate on the ones before her.

The little metallic ball sprouted tiny feet and started climbing the side of the wall beside the door connecting itself to the mainframe. On the other side, Vixen looked at her wrist computer courtesy of Dick and she started using her knowledge from ‘Robin hacks 101: Door opening’ and let the program at rest while she started up the little camera on her new toy. She was just in time to see Superman start his transmission, shortly after, the league disappeared through the next set of doors and she started the sequence to open the first one for herself.

She walked through just as Kid Flash was finishing his sentence

“-an HQ, IN SPACE” He roared indignantly as he turned around, his green eyes immediately stopped on her masked ones while she picked up the small robot from the wall.

“Well, now we make them change their attitude” Vixen grinned at him alerting the other two boys of her presence, but just as Aqualad adopted an instinctive fighting stance Robin turned startled and confused.

“Vi—Vixen! You are not supposed to be here…?” He hurriedly started but slowed down questioningly, wondering if she really shouldn’t.

“Don’t worry Boy wonder, what the bat doesn’t know won’t hurt him” She grinned

“The bat?” Kid Flash inquired shocked quickly turning to his best friend “You know each other? Did Batman not have enough kids at home?” The boy squawked while Aqualad relaxed in place, he gazed curiously at her

“I don’t recall having heard the name Vixen” The boy collectedly admitted and was quickly interrupted by Kid Flash again sprinting right in front of her face

“But I am very willing to find out who you are milady” He added before Robin stepped in front of her exasperated

“Chill KF” He groaned warningly “This is Vixen, she has been training with me to become a new addition to the Batman and Robin team” He cleared pleased “Vix, these are Aqualad and Kid Flash” He pointed while the girl behind him peeked at the other boys to wave.

“Sorry for being so intrusive but I really wanted to come and kinda listened in, besides” She playfully questioned “Aren’t you guys curious about what is project Cadmus?”

The boys looked at each other curiously before Robin grinned “Well, I can find out” He affirmed confidently, soon he was in front of the computer, fingers dancing over the keys.

“ACCESS, DENIED” The computer spoke and Robin scoffed “Heh, wanna bet?”

Lines upon lines of code stacked up on the screen and KF gazed in amazement “Woah! How are you doing that?”

“Same system as the Batcave” Robin stated in a singsong tone

“ACCESS, GRANTED” The computer spoke and the information filed in front of them

“Alright, project Cadmus, genetics lab here in DC, that’s all there is” But if Batman’s suspicious…maybe we should investigate,” He said gesturing to everyone and Vixen grinned as she was included

“Solve their case before they do” Kaldur smiled at the prospect “It would be poetic justice”

“Hey, they’re all about justice” Robin grinned but Kaldur sighed

“But they said to stay put” his face contorted into slight worry

“For the blotting out the sun mission, not this” Robin stated smugly

“Wait” Kid Flash turned Robin around “Are you going to Cadmus?” He questioned the bat’s protégés “Because if you're going, I'm going” KF beamed pointing to himself; the three teenagers smiled at Aqualad waiting for his answer.

“Just like that? We’re a team on a mission?” His brows drew together

“Hey, we didn’t come for a playdate”

«•••»

Kid Flash rushed to get two workers on top of the building and Vixen stared in amazement 

“It's what's his name— Flash boy!” One of the firefighters claimed

“It’s Kid Flash! Why is that so hard?” KF asked himself

“So smooth” Robin took Vixen's hand and pointed to her utility belt as he sprinted towards the building with a smirk plastered on his face

“Does he always have to rush ahead? We need a plan, we— Robin? Vixen?” Aqualad searched around himself, soon finding Robin with his unmistakable laugh closing in on the building, Vixen following him closely as they both jumped inside.

The girl grinned reaching out for Kid Flash and helping him up.

“Well thank you, princess, I would much prefer to fall for you than from up there” the ginger boy assured.

Vixen rolled her eyes and chuckled at his attempts “I'd much rather fall asleep but we have work to do” she finished walking towards the door.

Aqualad soon entered through the window after getting the workers down from the building “Appreciate the help” 

“You handled it!” The boy wonder looked back at the computer “Besides, we are here to investigate, remember? Poetic justice” 

Aqualad walked towards the door behind Vixen and they both caught sight of the genomorph inside the elevator.

«•••»

After Robin’s smoke bomb, Vixen made way towards Aqualad and Kid Flash, guiding them out fast just as Robin had expected them to even though he hadn’t said anything.

“Way to be a team player Rob! At least Vixie knew to actually guide us” KF stated glaring at his best friend

“Weren't you right behind me?” Robin questioned but his eyes never left the screen in front of him as he made the elevator work, it opened just in time for them to enter and avoid the genomorphs, Vixen sighed before Aqualad realized which way they were going.

“We are going down?” He inquired with his eyebrows creased.

“Dude, out is up” The fastest boy alive glared.

“Excuse me? Project Kr, it’s down on sub-level 52” Robin claimed simply

“This is out of control” Aqualad began exasperatedly as he walked towards the other side of the elevator

“Look” Vixen raised her arms calmly “It’s pretty simple at this point; if we call the League now we will be steps back from where we started, having achieved nothing, the league mad about the situation and we remain as kids, sidekicks” She looked between Aqualad and Kid Flash for a moment before smiling “We came here to prove something, we should pull it through”

Just in cue the doors opened and Robin rushed out of the elevator, Vixen followed but turned back at Aqualad for a moment

“We are already here” KF shrugged but this time smiled and Vixen felt glad to know her speech had worked for something, as small as it was, Aqualad sighed but followed 

“Which way?”

“Yeah” Robin started and looked questioningly at Vixen “Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?”

“Halt!” the figure of the genomorph they had seen in the elevator before appeared before them and commanded.

“Number two!” The girl exclaimed and ran towards the hallway closely followed by the others before the genomorph could try an attack.

«•••»

“Guys? You'll want to see this” Kid Flash started up the lights in the room and Superboy stood in his pod right in front of Vixen who could only be surprised because of how real the situation was now that she saw it for herself even though she knew it would happen

“Kr! The atomic symbol for Krypton! Clone?”

“Robin, hack” It was easy to see Aqualad in a position of power when he could be so commanding

“Uh, right right” the boy started connecting his computer “Weapon designation Superboy, clone force-grown in...16 weeks? From DNA acquired from Superman,” He spoke unbelievingly and glanced discretely up at Vixen, though she was sure it wasn’t needed Vixen nodded at him in confirmation

She wasn't really sure how bad of an idea would it be for more people to know about her situation, what she knew...but she wasn't that careful about hiding it in front of Wally and Kaldur, after all, they were meant to find out at some point if she was to become a part of this team.

“Stolen from Superman” Glared Aqualad

“No way the big guy knows about this” Kid Flash affirmed

As the others spoke and learned about what he was, Vixen looked up at Superboy, soon they would be beaten by this guy and that was a part of the timeline she really had no time to change, she just hoped to not get too injured, Batman would probably have the heads of both Dick and her soon so she'd rather not have a concussion before that happens

“Now we contact the league” Aqualad said but there was no signal for him to do so with

«•••»

“This is wrong, we can't leave him here”

“Set him free, do it”

And when the pod opened, Vixen was already tense, taking a few steps back while her hand reached for her two-sectioned staff.

“Uh, Vixie?” KF started, but soon Superboy's eyes opened wide and he threw himself at Kaldur “Calm down Supey!” KF exclaimed trying to get him off “We are on your side!”

Quick Vixen rushed in front of him and hit Superboy square in the face in front of his eyes with the staff, trying to incapacitate his sight for a moment, the furious Superboy went to attack her but she avoided until a punch at her stomach threw her against the wall.

Soon the fight continued until the four of them ended up on the floor unconscious.


	4. Fireworks-04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in a pod isn't exactly pleasing, being attacked by electric claws from it trying to steal your DNA for cloning is an awful experience.
> 
> This girl is dead set on the Justice League realizing they are fit for this job, or more so since she knows everyone else will be on the clear for Batman to feel she is.

**WASHINGTON D.C.**  
**July 5th, 00:01EDT**

_“Time is running short, you must awaken, you must awaken now”_ A voice urged inside her head making Vixen wake up to a start, gasping for air and taking in her surroundings.

They had all been restrained inside pods and considering how much the back of her head was hurting at the moment she worried she might have failed at avoiding a concussion like she so hoped to.

“What?” She hears Kid Flash growl from her left “What do you want?!” He yelled unkindly at the clone in front of them.

Superboy glared at him more intensely but it just enraged KF more “Quit staring, you’re creeping me out!” He exclaimed bothered.

“Uh, KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?” Robin protested from her right.

Soon two figures appeared from the darkness “Prepare the cloning procedure for the new project Sidekick, now” Desmond demanded.

«•••»

“We only sought to help you” Aqualad tried to explain before Kid Flash butted in.

“Yeah. We free you and you turn on us” The redhead continued impatiently “How’s that for gra—“

“Kid” Vixen warned firmly before turning back to Superboy “I swear we meant no harm to you, do not listen to Twinkle toes, he is just like that” She smiled slightly while the redhead huffed, mumbling something about her just meeting him and terrible nicknames.

“I am pretty sure our new friend wasn’t in full control of his actions” Aqualad explained; Vixen cursed under her breath as she realized she should have hurried bats about adding that lock picker on her gloves faster so she could start picking on her restrains like Robin was.

“Wha-what if I… What if I wasn’t?” Superboy asked looking genuinely curious.

“He can talk?” Kid spoke too quickly in surprise and at his words, Superboy’s glare returned fist tightening.

“Yes, he can” Superboy growled between his teeth, everyone else turned quickly to glare at KF.

“Not like I said it” The redhead defended taking in the looks.

The voice of reason spoke again “The genomorphs taught you telepathically” Aqualad marveled

“They taught me much” Supey stated confidently “I can read, write, I-I know the names of things” He stuttered tone changing

“But have you seen them?” The boy wonder asked, “Have they ever actually let you see the sky or the sun?”

«•••»

The pain began after Desmond sent Superboy out of the room, at his command some metal claws inside the pod rose to their chests and began giving the four teens painful electric shocks while stealing their blood to fill the capsules at the bottom of their pod, Vixen briefly wondered before the pain began if the shock had something to do with the violence of the clones.

She barely heard anything but her own screams until the door was ripped off the wall by Superboy, she relished on the subsiding of the shocks, a small smile forming on her face at the view, she felt oddly protected by the clone, besides the fact that of course, he was saving them.

“Don’t give me orders” He growled at the scientists now on the floor before turning to the captives.

“You here to help us or fry us?” Kid inquired

The one in question started glaring straight at him but stopped “Hah, I don’t seem to have heat vision so I guess helping is my only option” His lips curved up lightly while he explained and the girl wondered, if he had heat vision KF would have been roasted by now.

The younger boy jumped out of his pod by himself and rubbed his wrists “Ahh. Finally! Lucky Batman isn’t here, he’d have my head for taking so long”

“Seriously. That’s what you’re worried about. The whole league will have our heads after tonight!” Kid exclaimed impatiently

“A little help here bird boy!” Vixen called to her partner wiggling her fingers

Robin reached out for the control panel and the doors of the pod buzzed before opening, Vixen felt her breath clear, mostly because the metal claws weren’t right in front of her anymore

“Free Aqualad, I’ll get Vixen and Kid Mouth” Robin commanded Superboy but he didn’t take it too nicely

“Don’t you give me orders either” He responded aggressively before jumping out towards the Atlantian and breaking his restrains, helping him up

Robin freed Vixen and then Kid, the girl grinned as they both jumped off their pods and ran straight out towards the entrance.

As Desmond called out to them Robin turned back murmuring “That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all” He said before throwing his birdarangs to make the pods holding their blood explode.

“What is it with you and this whelmed thing?” KF asked and Vixen couldn’t help herself snorting

“Think that’s bad? I will be standing this new obsession of his constantly during training” She grinned at the speedster who laughed, probably in relief that he wasn’t the one on her spot.

«•••»

“Great directions Supey! You trying to get us repoded?” The speedster snapped as they stood on a dead end

Vixen smiled at Superboy before he answered and Robin exclaimed “No! This is perfect!”

The five of them were soon crawling through the cramped vents and Kid Flash wasn’t complaining anymore “Hey, you are right, these were perfect directions, I am enjoying the view” The boy smirked while the one girl of the group frowned before realization hit her; the boy was right behind her.

“Keep your thoughts to yourself” She growled snappily at him before Supey stopped her

“Shh, listen” He whispered

«•••»

Today she had fought side by side with the just formed team of heroes, she couldn’t be prouder of what the boys had accomplished tonight, much more so because now she knew them in person, she had spoken with them, shared thoughts, shared accomplishments; they were not just some characters she admired, —not that Robin had been one for her in a good while— and even though it had only been one night, she was already growing to care about her new friends on a different level from what she had been used to.

She restrained her grin as the Justice League came down to greet them

“Start talking”

«•••»

“We’ll uh, we’ll figure something out for you” Superman began uncomfortably “The League will I mean, for now, I’d better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away” He finished quickly before turning around to leave, a very bothered Superboy left behind.

Vixen reached up with her hand to Superboy’s shoulder, as his blue eyes turned to her in surprise she smiled softly “Superman just isn’t ready for this, he has had a bad experience about clones before, it is nothing against you” She began explaining “Just give it time, and I assure you a conversation with him won’t be as uncomfortable” The girl tried to reassure.

Thankfully and to her relief it seemed to work as the boy’s mouth curved up at her with a small nod of his head, her smile brightening before Batman’s voice come from behind them.

“Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels” The man in black walked over to them and Vixen steeled herself _‘You did nothing wrong’_ a small reminder on her head “But let’s make one thing clear-“

“You should have called” Flash interrupted, earning a slight glare from the bat.

“And results aside” Batman continued “We are not happy. You forced entrance to the hall, hacked league systems” At these words his two protégés looked down slightly, Ok, maybe she had done something wrong yeah “Disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives, you will not be doing this again”

“I am sorry, but we will” Aqualad stated firmly and the other looked up at Batman, moving forwards in defiance.

“Aqualad, stand down” Aquaman ordered

“Apologies my king, but no” Aqualad’s words startled the man “We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do”

“The work all of us here were meant to do” Vixen joined directing her words at her own mentor.

“Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important” Finished the Atlantean unmovable from his position

“If this about your treatment at the hall the three of you—“ Flash was also interrupted by a quick boy

“The five of us, and it’s not” he cleared

“Batman, we are ready to use what you taught us” Robin walked forwards calmly and Vixen did too, finishing his sentence for him.

“Or why teach us at all?” She asked and the man looked like he knew this was coming.

“Why let them tell us what to do?” The strong bothered voice of Superboy rose “It’s simple, get on board or get out of the way” He stated

The now five teens stared at the members of the league, opposing them with no sign of backing down.

Oh boy, a decision that takes three days to be taken took a toll on the kids at Wayne Manor, two angry teens —with problems to stay still— roaming around wasn't exactly a great experience to Alfred or anyone else in it when Victoria refused to tell Dick the future outcome of Batman’s decision.

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**  
**HAPPY HARBOR**  
**July 8th, 08:04EDT**

“This cave was the original secret sanctuary of The Justice League. We’re calling it out to service again since you five are determined to stay together—“

“That I am” Wally whispered with a grin towards the girl by his side making her snort, her hand reaching to push him lightly while her eyes rolled behind a pair of shades.

“—and fight the good fight, you’ll do it on League terms.” Batman’s voice lowered at the end in emphasis “Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary’s in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions”

“Real missions?” Dick’s voice resounded, unsure and questioningly

“Yes, but covert”

“The league will still handle the obvious stuff” Flash explained “There’s a reason we have these big targets on our chests” He pointed to the lightning bolt on his suit.

“But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter, Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly” The king of Atlantis said

“The six of you will be that team” Finished the black-clad man

“Cool! Wait. Six?” Dick asked startled, eyes widening behind his shades.

“This is the Martian Manhunter’s niece, Miss Martian” The low voice of authority explained as they all turned around to look at the grin skinned girl entering the room.

“Hi” She greeted with a shy wave

“Liking this gig more every minute” Wally told Dick and got a clack of her tongue from Victoria who soon smiled at the green gal in front of them “Uh, welcome aboard, I’m Kid Flash, this is Vixen, that’s Robin, Aqualad” He brushed off quickly “It’s cool if you forget the guy’s names” He finished

The dark haired girl beside nudged him on the ribs “Don’t bother about KF, he talks so fast he has no time to think through his words, also, the boy on the back, angry glare? He is Superboy” She smirked earning a frown from the ginger boy.

“Hey hey, I know you dig it” He huffed

Miss M smiled at her “I’m honored to be included” She said and the rest of the team walked up to her, except for the Kryptonian.

“Hey Superboy” Robin called out at noticing “Come meet Miss M”

As he walked up to them Miss Martian started changing her clothes, they were replaced by a black tee with the red X across “I like your t-shirt” She told him and he started smiling, soon being surrounded by the rest.

Aqualad looked proudly at all of them “Today is the day”


	5. Welcome to Happy Harbor-05

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is worried about what Roy told them, maybe they were still not being taken seriously by the league, so they hope desperately for a mission.
> 
> Vixen needs to deal with disappointed boys being rude and then with boredom at the mansion until Robin suggests she go visit Mount Justice, place in which a redheaded speedster is already at.

**STAR CITY**   
**July 17th, 23:16PDT**

“I don’t think we have been properly introduced yet” Vixen grinned at Speedy as she hit one of the men with a roundhouse kick before throwing a foxarang to smoke another one.

“If this is how you introduce yourself I don’t think I’m really bothered about it” The archer claimed as he shot an explosive arrow towards the big guy.

A flying boulder thrown their way was hit and cut by Aqualad on spot “The cave is perfect” Began the Atlantean “It has everything the team will need”

“For covert missions,” Robin said excitedly landing right behind them “You know, spy stuff!”

“And wait till you see Superboy and Miss Martian” Kid exclaimed having just reached them on top of the crates “Now, I know you just met Vixen, but I saw her first” He pointed to himself with a grin while said girl snorted and pushed his chest, in his surprise and not expecting it the boy almost fell off the crate

“Keep dreaming KF” She crossed her arms

Right after those words another boulder was thrown towards them and everyone separated to keep up their attacks from different perspectives, Speedy kept throwing arrows and soon tricked the man, ending the battle with a foam one.

The speedster ran over in front of him staring at the trapped villain “High-density polyurethane foam. Nice.”

“So speedy, you in?” Robin asked from his position while the archer started walking away

“Pass” He said only turning to look at him “I am done letting Arrow and The League tell me what to do, I don’t need a baby sitter or a clubhouse to hang out with the other kids, your junior Justice League is a joke” His demeanor was maintained just as that time on the Hall of Justice, Roy Harper was too stubborn, to set on an unconsciously placed goal “Something to keep you busy and in your place, I don’t want any part of it” He growled finalizing his declaration and disappearing in the shadows.

The rest of the teens staring at his back as he left.

«•••»  
 **MOUNT JUSTICE**  
 **July 18th, 11:16EDT**

“RECOGNIZED, ROBIN, B01. RECOGNIZED, VIXEN, B02. RECOGNIZED, KID FLASH, B03” Their presence was stated by the computer and Vixen thought with a smile…Being the Bat’s protégé had many perks, one being that she had been set into the cave’s system before some of the others.

“Did you ask him?”

“What did he say?” The boys inquired excitedly

“He is arriving now” Aqualad answered with a smile making the rest of them grin

“Then what are we waiting for?” An excited Kid Flash asked before they all rushed towards the back gates of the cave

A huge gust of wind signaled the arrival of Red Tornado to the cave and Vixen bit her lip, it would be a good day for bonding huh?

“Red Tornado!”

«•••»

“MY COOKIES!” Miss Martian exclaimed worriedly before flying off towards the cave’s kitchen being closely followed by everyone else.

Vixen flinched realizing she herself had forgotten to warn the martian about the cookies, she just hoped when it came to more important things she wouldn't be forgetting any detail

After rambling over the recipe, Robin stopped the Martian trying to reassure her “I bet they would have been great, he doesn’t seem to mind” He spoke about Kid Flash and they all turned to see the boy already munching on a second cookie

With a mouth full he shrugged sheepishly “I have a serious metabolism” He said almost questioningly

“I’ll…make more?” The alien asked

“It was sweet of you to make any” The boy with gills nicely added

“Thanks, Aqualad”

“We’re off duty, call me Kaldur’Ahm, actually, my friends call me Kaldur,” He said, Vixen often wondered how a boy that age could be such an example of politeness and calm.

“I am Wally” Kid stated with a slightly slurred voice while looking at his side for the dark-haired girl “See? I already trust you with my secret ID” He said looking straight at her, his cheek coming to rest on his hand

Victoria rolled her eyes behind the sunglasses she was donning at his attempts, she had apparently become the new M’gann and she guessed it was because he had met her first “I’d love to formally present myself, but Batman forbade both Robin and me revealing our identities” She explained looking at the other girl with an apologizing expression.

“Mine’s no secret, It’s M’gann M’orzz” The girl smiled “Like, you can call me Megan, it’s an earth name, and I’m on earth now” she stated proudly

Before the Martian could make a mistake Victoria tried to reach out and warn her but Superboy’s voice came out in a growl, making it obvious she was too late “Get out of my head!” He yelled at the martian

 _“What’s wrong? I don’t understand”_ A bad headache took power of Victoria’s head and everyone else’s as M’gann’s voice invaded them _“Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically”_ she continued

“M'gann, stop” Kaldur’s firm voice commanded and M’gann while startled did as told “Things are different on earth, in here your telepathy is an extreme invasion of privacy” He explained

“Besides, Cadmus’ creepy little psychic genomes left a bad taste in his brain” Wally explained as tactfully as ever

“I-I didn't mean to—“

“Just, stay out,” Superboy said enraged and a small silence was made

“Hello, Megan! I know what we can do” 

And then the Martian once away took way into the corridor, a small shrug from Robin and then everyone but Superboy had followed. Victoria strode back towards Superboy and quietly placed her hand on his shoulder like she had done before when they were in front of the League, the boy stiffened for a moment but she squeezed his shoulder softly. After a moment he relaxed and Victoria let go just as Megan was returning to the living room.

«•••»

“Strap in for launch” Miss Martian called out to the rest as they sat, the security belts latching onto them as they leaned down being instantly secured by the ship

Victoria sat in front of Wally to the left, looking back and forth excitedly

“Red Tornado, please open the bay doors” Megan’s voice called and soon the door started opening, the bishop rising and surfing across the sky a moment later

“Incredible!” Robin said looking out

From behind herself Vixen could hear Wally's dreamy sigh and words “She sure is...” as they left his mouth she looked back at him, ready to catch him staring at Megan and then try to fix his slip, but what greeted her was green eyes fixed on herself, her own at the moment blue eyes widened at the realization and then the boy's did too as he struggled.

“I-I mean the ship! Which, like all ships, is a she” he said pointing down at it crossing his arms over his chest with his gaze drifting somewhere else.

“Fast with his feet” Robin called Victoria’s attention with a bright mischievous grin “Not so much with his mouth” 

“Dude!” The accused exclaimed mortified at his best friend’s words, Victoria just laughed at his expense before turning around and ignoring the race of her heartbeat. He was such a flirt.

«•••»

“Hey, how about showing us some little Martian shape-shifting?” Robin asked M’gann, she rose to her feet for everyone to see while her features started morphing and her skin changed colors.

A female version of Robin in suit stood in front of them with a smug smile, after a little twirl her features changed once again and the female Kid Flash made a pose while the one copied stared dreamily

“Is it wrong that I think I am hot?” He asked to receive a scoff from Victoria

“I’d say so” Just as Victoria was finishing her sentence, Megan began to change into an identical copy of Vixen in suit, the dark-haired girl’s eyes widened impressed, a grin reaching her features “But I do think I look very good, so..."

“I am in paradise” Wally responded with a growing grin at the sight of both girls

«•••»

“Robin, are tornadoes common to New England?” Kaldur asked loudly before turning around “Robin?” he exclaimed realizing neither of Batman’s protégé’s were anywhere near; Robin’s cackles could be heard in the air around them.

“He was just here,” M’gann said surprised and confused as she looked around

“Figures, Vixie is gone too, of course he’d corrupt her” Wally started unenthusiastically.

The windows shattered from the force, inside the building the red robot attacked both Robin and Vixen throwing them against a wall before they could do anything.

“Who’s your new friend?” Was what they heard from Superboy as he came inside

“Didn’t catch his name but he plays kinda rough” Robin exclaimed

Vixen reached out behind her back for anything in her utility belt that might help, how is it possible that Batman actually, in fact, did keep EMP emitters in the utility belts and they didn’t bring any? So much for the advantages of knowing the future but well, if there was no battle there would be no personal growth.

“My apologies, you may address me as Mr. Twister” The robot introduced himself before wrapping up Superboy in a tornado and soon too throwing him away

Just as Wally was about to run up to the robot Vixen took hold of him, climbing quickly onto his back; before he could say anything about it though she had grappled onto the ceiling and released Wally from her grip.

She barely escaped Mr. Twister’s tornado that sent Wally flying away, taking the impulse she had gotten from the speedster she landed on top of the robot, quickly starting her miniature laser torch, managing to cut off one of the tubes from which he powered up his blasts before she was too blown away into the field behind the building.

Because of the rip on his tubes, they had gotten a small advantage, but it wasn’t enough to stop the robot from rendering her whole team almost unconscious.

Wally woke to find Vixen on the floor not too far from him, he sprinted out to take her in arms and she started walking, her eyes landed on him for a moment before he laid her down on the floor and yelled out at the robot “What did you do to my team?!”

“Embarrassed them largely”

«•••»

“Woah, Woah, alright, knock it off!” Vixen exclaimed angrily “You consulted, she provided with her thoughts and you assumed, she ISN’T to blame for you all having believed it was Red Tornado attacking us, it was an easy deduction you didn’t even care to think more about before accepting just because you couldn’t read his mind” The girl seethed not allowing anyone to speak over her “Clearly you KNEW she couldn’t be sure yet now you are blaming her because of your rash decisions, grow up and find a way to beat him instead of sending off an important part of the team for nothing”

The rest of the boys were unnerved after her yelling, even Superboy who was still furious had been silenced; Kaldur broke the moment swiftly though “Vixen is right, instead of blaming someone for the mess we are in we should regroup and follow twister, fast” he stated.

“Megan, get to the bishop and follow at a safe distance, before going back to action, maybe a talk with Red Tornado could clear up your mind” Vixen smiled at her before glaring at Superboy. The boy of steel only grumbled before following.

«•••»

“Speedy was so wrong” Wally grinned walking with the others “This team thing?”

“Might just wok out” Kaldur finished for him

As the four left the room M’gann and Superboy stayed behind

“Sorry”

«•••»

**WAYNE MANOR**   
**July 19th, 13:19EDT**

“Come in” Came Victoria’s voice and the door to her room opened while he secured a book inside a drawer in her desk, the black and red clad lad she lived with walked inside lazily, throwing the door back closed behind him.

“Hey Vicky, what’re you doin’?” Came his breathy question right before he threw himself on top of her bed carelessly, hand reaching over to remove his mask and he just tossed it beside him.

The girl in question turned her chair around to look at him with a grin “Well, I was studying myself to craziness actually, I have been looking into the works of Doctor— Oops, spoilers” She stopped herself from saying too much before rising from her seat and walking over to the bed, falling backwards by the side of Dick “All this enhanced learning is really useful but if I use all this free time to only feed myself knowledge I’ll go insane” The girl sighed

“Hey, that can be fixed” Dick smiled at her, taking the strength to look her in the eye despite his tiredness “We play in a couple movies and we don’t move from here, you still have a lot to learn about our cinematic universe!” The boy said excitedly before frowning at the pitiful expression she was giving him

“Oh my dear Richard, you’d be my savior distracting me like that but you do have to accompany Bruce to that presentation, remember?” The girl grinned while the boy groaned loudly, his face buried in the sheets.

“Right, don’t remind me, now I am disgruntled when I could be just gruntled” His muffled voice complained as she reached to rub his back with a chuckle “Because you know, Dick Grayson can’t have free time!” He finished

After a comfortable silence enveloped them Dick turned around, laying back on the bed “You know? I might not be the only one having to do these things soon” The boy smiled

Victoria raised an eyebrow at him confused “What do you mean?”

“Well, next month you will be enrolled to Gotham academy too, so by that time he wants to…you know, make your position as his new ward public, the new addition to the Wayne household” He grinned, resting his weight on his shoulders to see her better.

“Seriously?” The girl rose sitting up on the bed, her excitement and happiness were palpable making the boy laugh.

“Yeah, you know, that could also bring the official addition of Vixen to the Batman team” he smiled at her warmly and she threw herself at him for a hug

After a bit more of excited chatter, the kids were interrupted by Alfred warning Dick about being ready for the presentation

“Why don't you go over to mount justice, someone must be there” Where Dick's words before he disappeared through the door and left her wondering why he had looked like he knew something she didn't

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**July 19th, 14:04**

“RECOGNIZED, VIXEN, B02” The robotic voice presented as she stepped into the room making her way inside the cave.

Victoria looked around for signs of anyone in the corridor but found nothing. Maybe in the kitchen? Making her way to the living room she smiled softly in relief as her eyes caught sight of the fastest boy alive raiding the fridge; of course, she was glad about finding Wally, after all, he had been her favorite superhero back on her dimension.

She would never admit it to anyone here but she had always liked The Flash. When she was a kid and had started taking interest in superheroes, Wally West had already taken the role of Flash, he was the Flash she knew and admired, the fastest one, the one that had built an apartment complex out of scratch after it had burned down in the span of seconds, the Flash that could create a vortex and use electrokinesis, travel back and forth in time without the cosmic treadmill, she had read his adventures in awe, “He once saved Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Aqualad and himself going all around to different cities in a matter of seconds!” She’d explain excitedly “He is the fastest Flash and he made a connection with the speedforce, he made a suit OUT OF it!” She’d ramble.

But besides all of his powers, she liked the character himself, Wally was funny, the heart of the Titans, The League, and everywhere he went; the one that held it all together, in timelines in which he didn't exist or became The Flash the world went terrible ways; she had an arsenal of reasons to like Wally West, but now she had more than plenty to actually be his _friend_.

She woke up from her thoughts and reached up to her face, removing the sunglasses as she found no reason to keep wearing them if it was just him, she felt they were due for a talk anyway, so she reached over and poked the boy’s shoulder.

Startled he jumped up and barely saved the slice of frozen pizza he had been holding while turning around “Wha-“ He started before realizing who was behind him “Geez! Vixie, I think Rob’s rubbing of on you a bit too much, you should stop hanging out with him, after all if this continues I don’t think my heart will be able to take all your beauty at once” His tone began shifting at the end of his sentence but his eyes never left hers.

She crossed her arms over herself “Good to see you too Wally, and perhaps I have always been so stealthy you know?” Before she could continue the curious boy interrupted

“Where- you are-“ He tried to find the words he needed “Weren’t you supposed to keep your identity a secret? Because I just saw all your pretty face sweet-cheeks” He started out with slight worry before finishing off in an attempt to be suave.

Victoria looked at Wally before smiling softly “You would have found out soon anyways, in a week, when I am presented with Dick on live TV, so there is no reason to hide it from you” She excused making the boy in front of her grin and nod.

“Well of course, don’t worry beautiful, I will not tell a soul about it, your secret is safe with me” He reached out for her hand in an attempt to kiss it but it had soon disappeared from his grip, a flick on his forehead making him straighten and rub his forehead at the sharp pain.

“Such a gentleman” The girl mocked “Come on Wally, talk to me like a friend, not a conquest,” She asks of him with a genuine smile before her eyes traveled around the room and stopped in the coffeemaker.

“ _Not_ a conquest” He tried to justify “Just a really cute friend I want to get along much better with” He grinned, his eyes though kept following hers “Hey, weren’t your eyes green just a moment ago?” He asked looking at her closely

The girl looked at him surprised before remembering “Oh, yeah they probably were, actually my eyes change colors constantly” Her voice was smooth as she cleared out simply, turning to look him directly in his green forest eyes she willed her eyes to change from their current color to a golden hue, the boy was amazed

“How do you do that? I never heard shapeshifting being something you were able to do” He inquired more curiously than suspicious

“I actually have a small set of skills, nothing close to shapeshifting or a power like that it’s just” She bit her lip trying the words to express herself with “I have enhanced learning abilities, I can learn things much faster than regular people, this is the reason why I have only been training with Batman for a month yet I'm able to not be a liability during the missions”

She began searching for a reaction from the boy, what she found was his eyebrows raising in surprise but a small smile urging her to continue “I can also change the color of my eyes, I think I have really slowly been developing something like photo-umbra kinesis, so that might explain it a bit, but I can’t do anything else from that yet, unless it is bugging Alfred with turning off the kitchen's lights”

“Woah, that's amazing so you basically have the ability to—“

“Concentrate the electromagnetic radiation visible to the eye” The both of them spoke excitedly at the same time and laughed at each other

“I think so yeah, though I'd like it more if I could concentrate it in kinetic energy”

The ginger grinned “Still cool, leave the kinetic to me”   
  
_'Kinda what I am worried about'_ the girl thought and flinched slightly but tried not to dwell so far on the future  
  
He leaned against the closed fridge and looked at her in wonder “How did you get these abilities though? Or are you some sort of metahuman? Maybe you just developed them at random?” He asked her, quick questions rushing out of his lips and she bit hers thinking them through

“Well, I got them over a month ago actually…right when Batman found me” The darkhaired gal walked over to the coffee maker “They weren’t exactly random” her voice drifted slightly as she wondered just how much she should tell Wally at the moment; said boy walked up to her, she looked back startled to him when his hand rested on her shoulder reassuringly.

“Hey, if it’s hard you don’t have to tell me,” He told her comfortingly and she smiled

“It’s not that, you see, I will have to tell everyone about this at some point or another anyway” She decided, explaining her thoughts out loud “That night I fell from the sky, but Batman had been waiting right below for it; The League had been conscious for a while about some fluctuations in the space around where I fell in Gotham, they new a rip in the fabric of space would be made but had no idea what to expect” She started her fantastical tale while the shocked boy listened attentively “I came through a portal unconscious and he saved me from a nasty fall, my new skills awakened after I got into this dimension from my old one”

The boy blinked stunned as she started pouring water on the coffee machine then closing the lid “You are calm, making coffee while explaining to me how you just suddenly appeared on this world from a completely different one?” He questioned loudly “What was your world like?”

“That’s kinda easy, I have been here for more than a month, I had the experience” She chuckled “And well, my world was just not as cool you know? Terrible governments, terrible people, same old same old but, there is also no superheroes”

“No Superheroes? You mean, there’s no league? No metahumans—“

“Exactly, in my world there is no Atlanteans nor aliens coming over from space either; not even vigilantes like Batman, the only place Superheroes exist in my world is comic books” She finished just as the sound and smell of coffee brewing started embracing them.

“Then how did you settle here so fast? I get that you learn things faster but…Well, it is still a lot to learn, right? A whole new different civilization! You are not even close to being a hacker like Robin yet and you’ve been at it for a month already— No offense” He raised his hands up and she tilted her head at him

“None taken!” She laughed “I don’t expect to get to his level anytime soon, don't think I'll dedicate myself as much to it. Learning about this place wasn’t that hard though because I already knew of this universe” She reached up on the cupboard and took a mug out, before he could ask she continued “You see...in my world heroes like Flash and Batman are part of those comic books” she raised another cup at him asking him silently and he nodded.

“You mean you actually read stories about us? This whole experience is something that was a fictional world for you!” Wally was flabbergasted

“When you went to the Hall of Justice I already knew what we should do because it was part of the stories I had seen in my world” Her voice became softer and she took the pot of coffee to serve on the two mugs before continuing “I know it might sound creepy, but that is why I thought I would be a perfect fit, because I know the story and…I want to help” she drifted and returned the pot back to its place

“Then there are things that you want to prevent from happening right?” Wally asked her seriously and she turned around to look at him and nod “So that's why Rob gave you those knowing glances there like he knew if you were there it was important!”

“I don’t know everything either, and my future out of everything is an absolute mystery, ever since I got here things started already turning out differently from the comics in subtle ways” Her hands offered him the red mug she was holding and he grasped it, taking a small testing sip at the coffee “But of those things I can be certain about there is a couple I’d really like to avoid” she frowned leaning back against the counter with both hands around her mug

“Can you tell me any of it? Or would it be too much?” He asked curiously and blew at the hot coffee

She smiled but shook her head, “No, I am actually not too sure how much exactly I can tell, so just the basics”

“Then” he hesitated for a moment “Why me? Why did you decide it was alright to tell me?” he genuinely wondered

She looked at him for a moment thoughtful before smiling “I trust you, and I feel comfortable enough to tell you” she said simply “In the end I know I would have had to tell you about it at some point, so why not now before anything could go wrong from keeping big secrets?”

The boy smiled down at his coffee mug and took a sip “Can you slip one more secret?”

Her eyebrows rose “You must be feeling lucky...what is it?”

“Your name” he asked softly and a smile started on her face

“Victoria”


	6. Drop-zone-06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heavy thing about knowing the future is deciding on what to do, what to change, how to change it or if you even should change it despite how much you want to.
> 
> Although, the whole reason she had thought that telling Wally and Dick about the fact that she knew most of their future was a good idea was precisely because she wasn't expecting them to get mad about her for keeping stuff, worst of all, for keeping petty stuff from them.

“Isla Santa Prisca,” Informed the bat “This island nation is the primary source of dangerous and illegal neo-steroid, a strength-enhancing drug sold under the name ‘venom’,” The image in the computer shifted “Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity but all shipments of venom have been inexplicably cut off, that’s were this team comes in. This is a covert recon mission only” Oh boy, he thinks “Observe and report, if the Justice League needs to intervene it will”

Victoria glared at the map of the island, she had been wondering about the future of this mission for a while, should she really tamper with it? At the end it was probably best left alone, she shouldn’t intrude in a thing that would result in the developing of team-work; at most she could probably still stop someone from escaping there.

“The plan requires two drop-zones” Batman continued with his explanation

“So, who’s in charge” Robin inquired impatiently, wanting to be the leader, to prove himself

The two leaguer present shared a look “Work that out between you”

«•••»

“Drop-zone B” M’gann called and the bishop stopped

As Vixen rose from her seat a cable appeared for her from the ship, she quickly fixed it on her utility belt when she heard Wally change into his new camouflage mode, he turned to her grinning

“How cool is this?” He showed off his new black suit and she smiled

“Very cool, I’ll get jealous” She admitted

“Of other girls staring at my awesome figure beautiful? Because you don’t have to worry, I only have eyes for you” Wally ended cheekily and she rolled her eyes _‘I doubt it’_

“She is going to get jealous about how your mind can turn blank so easily when hers is always in overdrive” Robin provided and she grinned at him thankfully

KF crossed his arms in front of him with a low scoff before turning to Superboy “Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech”

“No capes, no tights,” He crossed his arms “No offense”

“It totally works for you” Mentioned M’gann out loud slipping into her dreamland before snapping out of it “In that, you can totally do good work in those clothes” She excused

«•••»

“Okay Rob, now what?” KF asked but Robin was already gone “Man, I hate it when he does that.” The boy slumped

“Tell me about it” Vixen mumbled absentmindedly before turning to her wrist computer

 _“Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared, see if we’re being tracked”_ Came Aqualad’s voice from the intercom

Kid Flash put on his goggles and started scanning around “Got a squad of armed bozo’s incoming”

“Two squads” Superboy provided after they blended in with the forest “But they’ll meet each other before they find us”

The sound of gunshots ended the peace in the forest “No superheating required now” Kid Flash started before walking forwards

 _“Swing wide”_ Aqualad exclaimed, _“Steer clear!”_

“Y-yeah, just as soon as I find Rob” Kid stated but right before he could rush out Vixen grabbed onto his back, making him carry her involuntarily “Vixie?!” He exclaimed quick but she dismissed him

“You are slipping, no traction!” She quickly exclaimed to warn him

“No, I can just—“ The stubborn boy started but was quickly proven wrong as he began slipping on the mud, both kids tumbling down to face the enemies

KF groaned loudly as he looked up and grimaced “So much for the stealthy”

“Move KF!” Vixen yelled standing up from her place as the gunshots began, she covered him with her anti-bullet cape before he stood up and grabbed her by the waist, carrying her out of there fast

«•••»

“Mystery solved. Radio bats and we’ll be home in time for—“

“These cultists aren’t _on_ venom” Robin stressed “Kobra’s hoarding the stuff, we don’t leave. Not until I know why”

“Until _you_ know why?” Uh oh

“This team needs a leader”

“And it’s you?” KF pointed accusing “Dude, you’re a 13-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word”

“Haha! And you’re a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got!”

This is how Vixen realized how awfully stressful this whole situation was like in person, more so when the fighting ones were currently her closest friends.

“Yeah? You don’t even have superpowers!” For the record? Vixen didn't either

“Neither does Batman!”

“Duh, you’re not Batman”

“Closest thing we’ve got!”

“Vixie! can you _please_ tell mister mature here that he can’t be a leader?”

“Can you _believe_ this idiot Vix?”

Both boys had turned their eyes on her and she felt like a deer in headlights, she wasn’t expecting this at all, but they both stared intently, expecting her to back them up.

Ever since her little open up with Wally they had been hanging out more, it was a lot of fun spending time with him, and always refreshing.

When it came to Robin they were already like family, he had taught her so many things, they could have serious talks and great laughs.

Neither relationship meant she would be taking the side of either, but the pressure of their eyes as they closed in on her had her worrying her lip in a moment of surprise.

“Such clever niños,” Bane’s chuckle saved her from their burning eyes “But you only know half the story, let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance”

«•••»

“Robin to Aqualad! We got— Static” He stopped

“Alright, we need to get out of here” Vixen started reaching out in her utility belt for her grappling hook “Something’s about to go wrong in a couple minutes so you should get out—“

“Uh, Vix?” Robin had reached for her whispering quickly “ _Discretion_ , forgot about it?” She bit her lip

“KF knows, Robin” She explained making the boy surprised

“You _told_ him? It isn’t safe!” Robin glared

“Oh, you think I am just going to babble it out boy wonder?” KF asked getting mad

“Calm down you two! He would have found out,” Vixen tried to reason “and besides, keeping secrets on this team could become a bad experience, it would be harder to explain later when trust is such a big issue, as long as it is just you—”

“Is that why you didn’t answer before Vix?” Bird boy interrupted

_“Pardon?”_

“You don’t want to take sides, even now!” Kid Flash quickly caught up to Robin “Because you _know,_ you are refusing to tell us who the leader is” He accused

“Didn’t you stop to think I might be holding out for a reason?”

“But you ARE leaning towards one of us” Robin stated firmly

“Well, you can guess by yourselves! I don’t want any part of this fight, I was alright with the both of you knowing my secret precisely because I thought you’d understand it’s limitations!” She growled enraged and swiftly left the room to find Aqualad

«•••»

Mammoth had already thrown out Superboy when she got out of there, she ran up along the stairs and started throwing foxarangs at every cultist left and right, sticking two upright on Mammoth’s back

 _“Everyone online?”_ Miss M’s voice filled her mind as she tried to reach the outside before Robin

 _“Yeah”_ Superboy grunted out

_“You know it, beautiful”_

_“Good. We need to regroup”_

_“Busy now!”_ Robin’s cocky voice sang

 _“Just like he said!”_ Vixen called and she could just feel Aqualad’s exasperation at them

She was following Sportsmaster, perhaps if she got a hold of the sample Kobra venom infused with the Blockbuster formula it could make things easier in the future, and Sportsmaster unable to present anything to the light.

“Not so fast little girl” The man turned around quickly, he shot at her but she jumped out of the way

“Don’t worry, you won’t feel much after I knock you out!”

 _“Robin, Vixen! Now!”_ Aqualad commanded and she frowned, not enough time! But she was so close…

A couple of swift punches thrown at her and she jumped around Sportsmaster, thankfully escaping at the last minute

«•••»

“How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?” Robin asked out loud and this time as the event was a reality in front of her eyes Vixen couldn’t help shaking her head at the question

“You do have the most experience, but perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared” Aqualad explained “Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined, you two do not need to talk, but this team is new and a leader must be clear, explicit, he cannot vanish and expect others to play parts on an unknown plan” Great sentiments, good body and really wise, Kaldur was the whole deal.

“Oh, so I’m supposed to hold everyone’s hands!” Robin stopped himself and groaned “Ah, who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur, you’re the only one who can”

“Please! I can run circles—“

“Wally, come on, you know he is the one, we all do” As he concluded a look of realization crossed Dick’s features as he glanced over at Victoria

She smiled at his apologetic look, they’ll talk about it later but she knew he understood

“Hello Megan! It’s so obvious” The girl hit her head while using her usual phrase

“Could’a told ya” Superboy stated matter of factly

Wally glanced back on forth from Robin to Vixen before smiling “Okay”

“Then I accept the burden” Aqualad walked towards Robin “Until you are ready to lift it off my shoulders, you were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon” he smiled

«•••»

There was a difference on the mission this time, the leader of Kobra was caught, and yet, when the Justice League had him on their grasp Koby managed to escape.

Vixen did get a sample of Kobra venom though, she guessed some things just weren’t meant to be changed, she wondered what that could mean in the future.

“A simple recon mission, observe and report” Batman stressed, but Vixen just kept thinking how it had been so worth it “You’ll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then, good job” The man almost smiled

The whole team looked up at him surprised “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, how you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads determines character”

«•••»

“Tori, can we talk?” Wally scratch the back of his neck as he looked sheepishly at the red fox once everyone had gone a different way.

Her eyes softened for a moment and she nodded guiding him over to the kitchen counter

“I am sorry Vic, we got too heated up on our fight and didn’t really consider your reasoning” He sighed looking at her “But I know, _we_ _do know_ that there will be a lot of things you will simply be unable to tell us, and I’ll just have to accept that behind everything you keep from us there _is_ a reason, I trust your judgement” He promised her, his eyes clashing with a baby blue and a cup of tea suddenly being placed on his hands.

“That’s alright Wally, I know you guys were just being dumb” The red-head pouted at her words and she grinned “But it’s natural to be mad when you feel someone is holding important information from you, I just ask you to…be patient about it alright? Even if it might not always seem to make sense, hard for the fastest boy alive, I know, I know” She rose her hands mockingly in a calming manner

Wally smiled at her in relief and placed his hand over hers reassuringly “We have a deal”


	7. Schooled-07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter
> 
> Vixen asks Wally for help studying, poor guy thought she would ask for a date

“RECOGNIZED, SUPERBOY, B04” Informed the robotic voice of the cave as the boy of steel walked into the room in a terrible mood

“Hi Superboy, how was Metropolis?” M’gann inquired with a smile but alas, Superboy ignored her completely passing straight through the virtual air hockey table the rest of the team had been surrounding

Black Canary cleared her throat to call the teenager’s attention “Ready for training, everyone?”

“Black Canary, Uncle J’onn!” The Martian girl called happily towards her uncle rushing over to hug him

“M’gann, I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d see how you were adjusting” The older martian spoke with a slightly unsure and yet happy voice

“A few bumps, but I’m learning”

“That’s all I can ask”

At hearing these warm words Superboy just turned away trying to leave, Victoria wondered if she could try to help or just let things happen

“Stick around,” Black Canary called for him “Class is in session”

Not too happy Superboy stopped in his place crossing his arms over his chest condescendingly; the blond woman stepped over the electronic surface which lighted up in preparation for training.

“I consider it an honor to be your teacher, I’ll throw a lot at you, everything I’ve learned from my own mentors” The woman groaned as she removed her jacket, letting them see the bandages she held on her left arm “And my own bruises”

“What happened?”

“The job.” Black Canary simply answered M’gann’s worried question “Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I’ll need a sparring partner”

“Right here. Yeah!” Kid Flash had eagerly raised his hand to volunteer stepping out to her “After this…swish” He made a noise following the throw of the banana peel he had been holding “I’ll show you my moves”

“This is going to be good” Vixen grinned while whispering to the boy wonder who chuckled at her comment ready to pay more attention than he originally planned to the fight

In a blur Black Canary’s fist had already been thrown towards Kid Flash, so confident on having seen it and avoiding it the redhead didn’t pay attention as she quickly turned and kneeled down to throw him by kicking his feet; he fell to his back with a yell.

The floor beneath him stated his failure and he groaned “Ugh, hurts so good…” He commented painfully

“Good block, but did anyone see what he did wrong?”

“Ooh ooh! He hit on teacher and got served?” Robin called with a big grin as the girl beside him chuckled

“Dude!” Ginger boy called

“He allowed me to dictate the terms of—“

“Oh, please.” Superboy interrupted “With my powers, the battle’s always on my terms, I’m a living weapon and this is a waste of my time.” He explained arrogantly about to leave

“Prove it,” Canary asked him to smugly

This is the part where the dramatic music would start “Another one” Vixen murmured making the boy at her left raise an eyebrow amusedly as Superboy stepped up towards their coach.

They both took battle stances but just as fast as Superboy threw a punch Canary took his arm and threw him away to the floor.

Robin laughed loudly before a nudge from Aqualad had him covering his laugh with his hands just as Vixen tried to.

The girl slipped back behind the boys while Canary tried to reason with Superboy and poked Kid Flash on the small of his back making him jump in place and look at her in surprise, the girl just grinned at him before whispering.

“Are you going to do something later?” She asked quickly and the boy in question stared at her for a moment, shocked.

With a big smug grin he neared her face “Awh, babe, are you trying to ask me ou—“

“Batman to the cave” Immediately everyone had shifted to look at the image of Batman in the computer

«•••»

Vixen was cleaning the screen of her helmet when a ghost of wind blew her hair back, a voice soon accompanying it

“So, about that date” Wally’s cocky voice began as he leaned closer to her

Vixen punched his shoulder lightly “Not what I was going to ask you”

The boy groaned in disappointment “Come on gorgeous, admit it, you want to spend more time with me”

“Wally, we already spend enough time together” She smirked with a hand on her hip “I actually wanted your help with something, camouflaging objects”

His eyebrows raised slightly as he looked at her confused “What for?”

“I am interested and thought you’d be a good teacher unless of course, you are not up for it I am sure I can—“

“No no! I can totally help you out with that, just be a little more descriptive of what you want exactly and I’m your man” He grinned confidently

«•••»

“Hey Supey, everything Ok?” She tried asking, worrying her lip between her teeth as she wondered how good an idea this would be

“Peachy” He answered grumpily before Robin accelerated to his side

“If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster?” The boy wonder wondered “See, instead of things going wrong, they go right.”

Superboy didn’t answer any further

“Uh, clearly you’re not feeling the aster. What’s wrong?”

“Canary. And what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?”

“Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig, Canary learned that the hard way, same with Batman and well, Vixen and me.” Robin tried to explain

Superboy was having none of it though, honestly, Canary wasn’t his first problem and Robin explaining how Vixen and him had a pretty good mentor was just adding salt to the wound, not that Bird boy knew.

«•••»

“It’s gone” Robin lamented “And so is our partner”

“Superboy’s not only mad about Canary” Vixen glared at the distance “And his anger isn’t letting him see clearly, he is being impulsive”

“I think he ditched his comp” Robin called

Vixen tried calling for her bike but the controls were broken, it was not going to be taking her anywhere, quick she pointed Robin at the monkey and he nodded while the others talked, soon they could use the monkey to track the Amazo parts.

“I’m sending Kid on ahead to meet you, Aqualad out”

After this Robin and Vixen stared for a moment as Robin’s Motorbike reached them

“Well Rob, this was a disaster, heavy on the dis” She smiled at the raven-haired boy, making his attitude bright a little

“Want a ride?” he motioned to the now shorter vehicle

«•••»

“So, you guys are close” Kid Flash spoke from their side suddenly

“My bike got ruined” The fox explained

“So you changed too” Robin stated

“You kidding? I feel naked in civvies, besides, pretty sure Vix digs being able to admire the flex of my muscles”

“Sweetie, if you had any” The girl mocked

“Did you call me sweetie?” Wally focused on the words he liked

“Quit it Flash boy” Robin commanded unamused

“You still tracking the parts?”

“They were heading through Gotham, but they veered” He stopped a moment before stiffening “Wait, dude, they’re at my school!”

“I am just going to get enrolled soon, a good time for the place to be wrecked” Vixen joked

«•••»

“Access Black Canary” The robot called

“Kid! Out of the way!” The girl tried to shoot a bomb at Amazo but the Canary cry pushed her back, she landed on the floor against a wall and groaned loudly before yelling at the rest “Quick! He can’t use two at the same time!”

“Martian Manhunter” Amazo threw his arms at Robin stopping anything the boy wonder threw, and then came her most hated part “Access Superman” The robot took hold of Kid Flash and started crushing the boy in between his arms”

“Aaaah!!” Kid Flash screamed in pain and in reflex Vixen threw a foxarang at him, it was so sudden she had forgotten about the arrow that would already be thrown, the green arrow flying right beside her foxarang.

“Martian Manhunter” Amazo called as the two objects passed through him and Kid Flash fell to the ground

«•••»

“Please” Robin called out frustrated at the heroes who stood in front of him after the mission “If we needed help we’d never get the chance to ask” He argued pulling out the arrow that had been shot at the gym “Look familiar? Vixen clearly had Kid covered yet you shot, you were following us! Babysitting! You still don’t trust us!”

Vixen wasn’t sure she should have thrown the foxarang in the first place, maybe the arrow would have been a good bonding point Kid would now be able to avoid when Artemis came, but at the moment she had just reacted to help Kid Flash.

“We didn’t follow you” Batman stated as Green arrow compared one of his own arrows with the one presented.

“And that’s not your arrow” Robin grinned “But that means—“

“Speedy!” KF exclaimed

“He has our backs” The Atlantean smiled

“Souvenir~!”

«•••»

“So, your collection is growing” Victoria smiled as she looked up from the books in front of them both to look at the arrow he had placed on his shelf

“I need a memory of every single mission we’ve had together” He answered her in a flirty tone

“You are incorrigible”

“What can I say? You make a mess out of me” He smiled before an alarm from Victoria’s phone interrupted, she started closing the books and picking her things up just as it did “Woah, where are you going?”

“Dick and I agreed on having a movie night, apparently the cinematic world of my universe and yours are pretty different and he says I need to catch up” She stood up smiling at the boy

“No way, you are watching movies with him but had me as a teacher before I have to go to class? Not fair!” Wally stood abruptly and scowled at her

The girl gave him a huge innocent grin “Hey, I told you that you didn’t have to help me with it, though you seemed pretty interested while explaining phase shifting to me”

She swore she had seen a pink tint on his cheeks there for a moment but it was gone as fast as it came “It’s not that I mind teaching you, no! But we could watch movies together you know?” He grinned before pouting again “But don't you guys like, already spend a lot of time together? I tell you, he is corrupting you, Vic”

The girl raised an eyebrow at him “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine, might corrupt him myself somehow, see you later Wally” She waved quickly strutting up the stairs and outside of the room

“Yeah, later”  
  
  



	8. Infiltrator-08

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria has decided Wally's relationship with Artemis could get off to a much better start, so she meddles to get them on a much less hostile beginning.
> 
> She should be happy about it.

“Hello Megan! We should hit the beach every day!” The sand pressed softly under the feet of the green skinned girl as she enjoyed the warmth of the sun

“First, a moment of silence for our absent comrade” Robin pressed a hand to his forehead dramatically and Vixen nodded at his side gazing at the floor solemnly

“Poor Wally” Megan pitied

Somewhere else, far away in Keystone city the bell rang signaling the beginning of the school year

“Welcome, class, to the first day of sophomore year” Even the teacher’s voice sounded terrible, our favorite redhead made a dying sound at the very corner of the class room, slouching down on his seat as he prepared for the horrible day that was to come

Victoria’s loud laugh was quickly drowned by the water the boy of steel threw at her in waves as he jumped into the sea, she shook her hair out of her face before glaring at the boy now resting in the water playfully, Robin’s cackle hadn’t stopped

Wally’s tired expression was drowned instead by the regular water from the water fountain at school as it squirted all over his face, if he was already bothered by it things were worse once he noticed the remaining water had fell on his lap, drenching the front of his pants

While the team enjoyed their own made hot dogs perfectly cooked at the beach, the fastest boy alive had to settle for the gross excuse of food that was served at the school’s cafeteria

Wally reached for his locker to change clothes after having received constant balls at his face all throughout P.E., it was only the first day but he already felt himself counting the days until graduation. He almost didn’t notice his phone vibrating with a new message while he changed, but just as he went to check for who could be reaching for him at such an hour his tired expression turned into a small smile.

 **Victoria ❤︎:** Don’t worry, day’s almost over cool guy.  
There could be plenty of beach days from where  
this one came.

Just the fact she had texted him to make him feel better was making him feel better, smile still in place he sighed, taking his second wind to finish this terrible day.

 **Fastest-nerd-alive:** You light up my day beautiful, I   
can’t wait to see your swimsuit btw.

The message made her snort, poor Wally, he wouldn’t get to see that, but she really wanted to see him stumble over to the cave in shorts so she wasn’t about to warn him, instead, after being the referee for their small volleyball match she enjoyed decorating the sand in which Superboy had been buried alive.

“RECOGNIZED,” Began the computer “KID FLASH, B03”

“The Wallman is here!” The boy exclaimed holding anything he could ever need for a beach day in his hands and Victoria was already snorting “Now let’s get this party start—“ His sentence was cut short as his foot got stuck, the boy fell down to the floor, beach ball flying far away and across an unamused Batman and Red tornado.

Wally looked up with his now crooked sunglasses leaving a green eye free for view and with a little sigh sprawled across the floor he continued “ted…”

Taking a moment of pity on the boy Victoria walked dover to help him up, her grin wouldn’t leave her lips though “That’s a great way of introducing yourself Twinkletoes” She murmured and he raised an eyebrow at her quizzically

“Huh?”

“Wallman, huh?” A new female voice asked, the smile on her voice could be heard “I love the uniform, what exactly are your powers?” Artemis mocked

“Uh, who is this?” The boy asked once up

“Artemis, your new teammate” The blonde smirked confidently

“Kid Flash, never heard of you” Victoria rolled her eyes at his arrogance

“Um, she’s my new portégé” Green Arrow called walking forward

“W-what happened to your old one?” The speedster worried

“RECOGNIZED, SPEEDY, B06”

“Well for starters he doesn’t go by Speedy anymore, call me Red Arrow”

«•••»

As the team started leaving for the High School Vixen took grasp of KF’s hand, still not wearing her mask

“Hey precious, no need to use force to call my attention” He grinned

Precious? Well that was a new one, shaking the thoughts off and back to the reason she stopped him the dark haired girl spoke “Wally, don’t be so rude to her, alright? In all honesty think for a minute, she has done nothing wrong”

Kid frowned “If it hadn’t been for her Speedy would—“

“Red wouldn’t have changed his opinion on joining all out of a sudden if she just hadn’t been here, it isn’t her fault.” The girl tried to reason “Come on Walls, you don’t even know her yet, can’t you give her a chance?” she started pouting up at him, eyebrows creased and eyes having turned a pretty pink.

He knew she knew he wouldn’t resist that. So he sighed “You are cheating…but alright, I guess I can be” He paused “Kinder, to her” His eyebrows furrowed but she was smiling now and squeezed his hand

“Thanks Wally” She let go and pulled out her mask over her eyes before following the others out.

He knew she would eventually be the end of him.

«•••»  
  
 **HAPPY HARBOR**  
 **August 8th, 21:59EDT**

 _‘Miss Martian, link us up, we do not want the shadows intercepting our com’_ Aqualad called and Vixen felt the now familiar wave of foreign feelings swarming into her head

_‘Everyone online?’_

A groan from the new team addition _‘This is weird’_ she curiously examined her own hand

 _‘And distracting’_ Came the sudden voice of Dr. Roquette who seemed unfazed about the mental invasion _‘Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough, now I have to hear teen-talk in my skull?’_ She complained exasperatedly

 _‘Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?’_ Kid Flash asked through the link while vixen stayed close behind him

 _‘Pot, kettle, have you met?’_ Artemis provoked

 _‘Hey hey, I do not—‘_ His phrasing was interrupted as a shiver went down his back, the reason of it was Vixen passing a finger through his back; her ways of silencing him were getting to him in different ways _‘Need attitude right now, shouldn’t we focus on keeping her safe?_ ’ He managed with a small growl and Vixen smiled in approval

 _‘Fate of the world at stake?!’_ Roquette reminded them harshly

 _‘How about I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter?’_ Artemis started walking out

_‘Good idea’_

Vixen kinda relished on how much lighter the tones were

«•••»

 _‘You embarrassed Superboy!’_ The Martian complained oozing jealousy

 _‘Didn’t hear him say that’_ The archer smugly answered

 _‘Must you challenge everyone?’_ M’gann growled

_‘Where I come from that’s how you survive’_

_‘Girls girls, you are both pretty’_ Vixen grinned while standing up from her seat from inside the school _‘But I think I saw something through the window, take a look of the perimeter’_

The girls were quick to go, but not enough to notice Cheshire slipping through the door

Victoria realized she was too late when she heard the steps of Kid Flash quickly disappear down the hallway _‘Be ready! We have company’_ She yelled through the link before rushing out of the door

At a turn Cheshire found foxarangs on the floor, just as she walked into them three explosions threw her back, but vixen was long gone; the villain took out her weapons and hurried inside the room, engaging with Aqualad in battle.

Meanwhile Vixen had rushed to the pool to find Wally floating on the water, she reasoned with herself mentally while she took her belt off to swim inside, _‘you are doing this because the team needs M’gann’_ she repeated out of the mental channel in which the others could hear her.

She dragged the unconscious boy out of the pool and began pumping on his chest, counting mentally, she had been precisely reviewing CPR so that the team could have a better chance to stop Cheshire if she hadn’t stopped Kid Flash in time.

After unsuccessfully trying to pump the water out with 30 pumps the girl leaned over, gasping in for air and trying to pump it into his lungs.

Finally he coughed harshly and opened his eyes, Vixen sighed in relief as they both stood up, Kid Flash looked at her in surprise “Did you just”

“Hurry, they need us!” She interrupted and he nodded, quickly sweeping her off her feet so they’d reach the room faster, they got there just in time to see Artemis shooting at Cheshire and M’gann flipping a table.

This time Cheshire looked significantly tired “Maybe a little too interesting”

The woman disappeared with a smoke bomb and Kid Flash flew forwards as he failed to catch her, Vixen had at this point hurried in front of Artemis and receiving Kid too close to her face, they both stumbled back and watched the empty space in which the villain had stood, shoot, she really thought they’d catch her faster.

“Gone”

“She’s getting away, you’re letting her get away!" Roquette angrily chastised

“This is all your—" KF was interrupted

“KID” The fox featured girl exclaimed quick “We all missed Cheshire, Miss M was also outside checking the perimeter and Aqualad and I couldn’t stop her either”

“But that’s different! You were going for me, besides, I can’t be mad at you” The boy claimed trying to prove his point but his expression shifted to a dreamy one

_‘You gave me mouth to mouth’_

_‘We heard that!’_

“Dang it!” He exclaimed walking aside, while Vixen covered her face with one hand embarrassed. She should have expected it, but she was really glad now that Robin hadn’t been there, otherwise he would have teased her eternally.

«•••»

It was really silent as they guarded M’gann who was impersonating the doctor, Vixen lifted her sight from the window to Wally and Artemis, but they weren’t glaring at each other as she had expected to catch them doing, in fact, they were just waiting for anyone to attack, just as they should.

She was surprised at how much easier than she had expected it had been to calm Wally down; not seeing the both of them at each other’s throat made her smile, this could mean their relationship could flow more easily, more naturally, they probably would get along much better and get together much easily.

It was…curious how those thoughts had bothered her, she shook her head and sensed through the mind link that Wally was curiously looking at her, she ignored it.

A loud crash was heard from outside and Vixen quickly took hold of her two sectioned staff.

The doors flew open for the cheap Spiderman copy to enter, KF reacted quickly to attack but the spider plague avoided his kick, Artemis was about to help him but captain hook came to attack from the rooftop.

“Don’t stop working” Artemis warned M’gann who turned back to the computer for the sake of the show

Instead of helping the others though Vixen glared at the window up high, hand over one of her flash bangs, ready to get thrown and just then Cheshire appeared, quickly getting blinded and unable to hear by the thing and falling back.

“Artemis! Pursue their leader!” She yelled out and started attacking hook man to allow Artemis a go.

The outcome would depend on what happened next, but Artemis had to go for her sister, Vixen had to give her the opportunity to find out who was under the mask at least, hopefully things would go differently if she was giving them more time.

«•••»

Artemis hadn’t caught Cheshire, or more likely she let the woman go, but that was fine, Kaldur didn’t get hurt at the end because Cheshire didn’t get far enough after the flash bang and Artemis running for her.

The goons were taken out and Wally didn’t even mention anything about Artemis not catching Cheshire.

“Welcome to the team” Aqualad reassured the archer who looked still distraught about what she had found out but smiled slightly nontheless, they all walked up to her.

“I always wanted a sister” M’gann smiled at Artemis “Here on earth I mean, I have 12 back on Mars, but trust me, it’s not the same, I’ve realized with Vixen” The Martian rambled

“I wouldn’t know” Artemis tried hesitantly “But thanks”

“You did great today” Vixen smiled warmly at Artemis “I’m really glad you are on the team, hope you are ready for girl nights with Miss M and me” She finished then glanced at Wally.

He didn’t seem bothered, at all, she was almost shocked but tried to act nonchalantly “Yeah, welcome” She heard him say with a small smile. This was what she had wanted, they wouldn’t fight, they had a moment that looked like understanding between them and Vixen was glad, she wanted to be glad, so why was she bothered by it?

She was worried this would not be just a small change, she was worried this could have a bigger effect on the timeline and that she should have just let things flow naturally between them; she was trying her damned best to convince herself that was the one thing bothering her.

  
«•••»

**GOTHAM CITY**   
**August 9th, 01:17EDT**

“Cut her some slack will you?” She called to Red arrow who turned to her looking anything but surprised at seeing her there just by the side of the alley in which he had met Artemis a moment ago “You could be pleasantly surprised”

“How would you know?” Red demanded with a glare “It’s not like you are off the hook either, the only reason I am letting you go easy is because you are directly working with Batman, he would probably know if you were trying anything, so how? How did you gain his trust so easily and what does it have to do with the portal on the sky from two months ago?” He asked with his voice getting harsher

She didn’t react much, her eyes widened slightly at his questioning by the end though “I really wonder where you get your information from, but then again you probably wonder about mine” She walked over to him to stare straight at his masked eyes “You can keep tabs on me if you are worried, you can question about where I am, you won’t find anything interesting but hopefully it will reassure you, I don’t mean any harm and I think you know it” She smiled at the red-head “Look, Bats trusts me for a reason, I can’t tell you, telling people can just endanger us all, so please let’s leave it at that”

She didn’t expect him to back up so easily but the man sighed, his posture relaxing, maybe it wasn’t in his programming to put much suspicion in her “Fine, I checked the files on you, stole them, but there is nothing that could really incriminate you, not proof anyway, the fact that you didn’t really exist before Bats took you in was a huge worry but honestly everything I could have heard since just seems to point out that you haven’t had any real contact with much people besides the league and the team, everything ends up drawing a blank” He admitted leaning back on the wall “It just seems like you know too much, you know something about that Artemis don’t you?” He glared

“Not my place to talk, but she is fine Ok? I know you won’t believe me, but just as you said, if she steps over the line you’ll be there, right?”

He sighed “You better be sure” He looked like he wanted to discuss it further but she was glad he left it alone

She leaned back against the wall by his side for a moment, a calm silence, she wondered why he hadn’t just left already, if he had more questions “Kaldur, Supey and I are going to the movies this sunday; Wally and Rob can’t but can you come?” He looked at her questioningly but she continued before he could say anything “Come on, you need to relax every once in a while, hanging out with Kaldur normally could do you good, also that way you can find out more about whatever evil plan I could be keeping from anyone or about Supey, you haven’t really talked to him before”

He seemed about to refuse, of course, and she had expected him to, but then he got up from the wall and crossed his arms “What time?”

Vixen felt a huge wave of accomplishment.


	9. Denial-09

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria organises an outing to get closer to the guys on the team and Roy, when the man isn't being all serious and mad at everyone he can actually be great company to joke around and have a chat.
> 
> Back with the team on the mission to help Kent Nelson she hopes she can help and save the man, but would that damage the timeline too much?

**STAR CITY**   
**August 13th, 20:28**

“Don’t be such a grump, it’s a good movie” Victoria said rolling her eyes at the oldest boy beside her, Roy was holding a slushy and a box of popcorn while Kaldur and Superboy walked behind them.

“How would you know?” Roy asked suspiciously “It just premiered, you couldn’t have seen it” He furrowed his eyebrows at her but she acted entertained by the popcorn she was getting in her mouth.

“I’m just saying what I read online” She excused herself dismissively, no need to throw away her façade because of a movie that had already come out on her dimension, Roy didn’t seem to buy it completely “Anyway, just relax, we can go for hamburgers afterwards too” She grinned and looked back at Kaldur from behind her sunglasses.

After 3 months she stopped feeling ridiculous from wearing sunglasses at night, Roy did too so she wasn’t the only weirdo getting stared at; she wondered if Bruce realized the glasses made people more suspicious about her being one of Bruce Wayne’s kids or if this was just another of those nonsensical things that happened in comic books in which a pair of glasses conceals your identity entirely and she was protected by fictional logic.

“Vixen is right,” Kaldur began “I haven’t seen you much since the team was formed except for business, it would do us all good to just relax like this every once in awhile and enjoy ourselves” He agreed in that calm manner of his making Roy sigh.

“Right, why did the others not join us?” Roy asked, seemingly calmer than a moment ago, Kaldur seemed to have that effect on people.

“M’gann and Artemis didn’t really care much for the movie, so they stayed at the cave to hang out” Kaldur explained

“Then Rob was bugged by a school friend about hanging out with them since he always seems busy, he didn’t get to escape that so he was staring at me as if I had betrayed him while I prepared to leave” Victoria chuckled at the memory of the boy wonder blatantly glaring at her “Then Wally had already planned something with Flash, I don’t know what it was but he didn’t really want to miss out on it, he still whined about not being able to come though”

Roy smirked at her comment, and that? She would count it as progress.

«•••»

The three were laughing at something Superboy had said over their hamburgers while the boy of steel grinned, waiting for calm to continue his story. It felt unreal to see them so relaxed, it was one thing to laugh and joke around with Dick and Wally, it had become really easy, both boys were now pretty dear to her and she adored hanging out and joking around like fools.

M’gann made it easy to have a conversation between girls, she had gotten Artemis and Victoria to open up to her in many ways; girl talk wasn’t Victoria’s strength, but it wasn’t exactly Artemis’ either, so they found their ways around it.

These boys she was currently laughing with were the challenge, but right now? A movie and an order of french fries later they were laughing and talking like regular boys, she didn’t remember having seen Kaldur actually laugh on the series or Roy so happy, not this Roy.

It was nice, despite Kaldur having to hide his gills, Supey having broken a bottle of ketchup because he held it too strongly or anything that had happened they looked at each other with grins, quick remarks, and jokes, actually getting to know each other, somewhere along the way Roy had stopped being such a sourpuss.

“Ok, so” Victoria snorted “Basically, every once in a while you leave a t-shirt Wally owned right inside his backpack”

“You’re missing the point” Superboy rolled his eyes at her question but was _grinning_ “Ever since I was at Wally’s place“ [As seen on the “Young Justice” CN comics, Issue #0] “And I slept in his closet-“

“You slept in his closet” Roy deadpanned

“I noticed nothing’s ever in place” Supey ignored Roy’s comment “So I snuck out a bunch of dress shirts and clothes he never uses, he had no idea I did, but his mom really wants him to wear those so she’s always bugging him about them so he is hiding from her the fact that he can’t even find them anymore”

“So that’s why he has used the same one thrice already under different stuff” Kaldur spoke in realization

“In a row, his mom started hidding the other t-shirts and button-ups he leaves to clean so he’ll use the clothes she wants him to, between her and me disappearing them he is running out of clothes”

“And you are holding it from him that he could end up shirtless one at a time!” They all laughed at Wally’s misfortune, for once through the night she was actually glad he had to miss out on this or Supey wouldn’t have told them. She really hoped these outings could become a frequent thing though.

Glancing at the grinning Roy she smiled, she also hoped she could help him be like this more often.

**  
  
MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**August 19th, 19:39EDT**

“INITIATE—COMBAT TRAINING.” The robotic voice of the cave called as Kaldur and Superboy walked towards each other.

Victoria was standing right beside Wally as he devoured his burrito and she made a face, disgusted by the show.

“Could you maybe eat a little slower” She mumbled at him crossing her arms over her chest but she doubted he heard it over the fighting in front of them; she sighed walking over to where Artemis and M’gann were talking, Wally looking at her go curiously and following close behind

Just as Victoria reached the girls they stopped their chuckles to look at her, a glint of mischievousness in their eyes “Thinking better about it, wouldn’t Vixen and Red Arrow be just the cutest?” Megan squealed

Wally choked on his burrito while Vixen gaped _“Pardon moi?”_ She asked with a small crack in her voice and the girls laughed

“I wouldn’t like to agree because I really don’t know what anyone would see in an arrogant boy like him” Artemis sighed “But Megan’s right you know? You two are pretty similar and you sure seemed pretty chummy a week ago when you guys came back from the movies” She cooed with a teasing grin

Victoria was at a loss for what to say, she wasn’t ready for this questioning but luckily Wally spoke before she even had a chance to stutter out anything

“Them?! A couple? No way, you know, they don’t even really know each other, not like they have the time either” He crossed his arms in what seemed like a defensive manner, as if the one attacked were him

“Hm, I don’t know Wally” M’gann smirked “They had been talking all night and I’m pretty sure they have texted, right? Why do you mind so much anyway?”

“I-I don’t!” He scoffed “But making assumptions when she is right here is just—“

“Red Tornado!” Victoria interrupted walking over to the field where the Robot was descending from “Where are you going?”

«•••»

Victoria had convinced Bruce beforehand today that she wouldn’t be needed with Batman and Robin as much as she would be needed elsewhere and she hoped that was true, she wondered if she could change history, or if she even should? It was the same dilema every single mission, it was getting tiring, would it be selfish to try and make it so Kent wouldn’t die today?   
  
Also, would Bruce even see the files she placed right in front of his desk about Ra’s most recent attempt at getting him to join him or nah. For the best detective Bruce really seemed to not notice the most obvious things, Dick and her could be running off around the manor and only Alfred would notice.

Then again Alfred always knew if they had even one toe out of their room.

“This is Kent Nelson, a friend” The robot explained “He is 106 years old”

“Guy doesn’t look a day over ninety” He whispered to Victoria

“And he has been missing for 23 days, Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentors’ Justice League”

“Of course. Nelson was Earth’s sorcerer supreme, he was Doctor Fate” Kaldur turned to the group explaining with admiration oozing from his voice.

Wally scoffed leaning closer to her “More like Doctor Fake, guy knows a little advanced science and “Dumbledore’s” it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes” He smugly spoke and Victoria looked at him unimpressed

‘Oh, you think Walls’

“—it is unwise to leave that power unguarded”

“He is like the great sorcerer Priests and priestess of Mars, I would be honored to help find him” M’gann smiled

“Me too” Victoria grinned making Wally look at her in surprise “I’ve followed Dr. Fate with interest for a while now, I think he has amazing power and would love to speak to him”

“You do?” Wally asked, his voice slightly strangled

“Of course Wally, also, I love magic” She grinned at her friend while he groaned looking like he had swallowed something sour

«•••»

“Nothing” The speedster’s shoes screeched on the ground as he made his way right in front of her “This isn’t simple camouflage”

Victoria had started worrying slightly about how many of Wally’s sentences that would originally have been directed at Artemis were now directed to hers, admittedly, in a sweeter manner, she was his friend already after all, but she guessed as long as the two weren’t fighting it wasn’t really a bad thing, besides, she had already gotten used to receiving the flirting that would have been directed towards M’gann

That was another worry, Wally had stopped flirting with M’gann in the series when he found out she was dating Superboy, but she wasn’t M’gann, she wasn’t about to date Conner, it wasn’t like she hadn’t checked the boy out while he fought without a shirt on but that was obviously different. If Wally didn’t stop flirting with her because she was dating someone how would she get him to stop so he could focus his attention on Artemis?

Before letting her thoughts drift further she decided to apply what she had been learning from the boy himself, now that she actually knew what it meant and wouldn't just be stealing a line “So you think it must be adaptive micro-opto-electronics combined with phase shifting?” She asked smugly

“Well someone has a pretty good teacher don’t you think?” Wally grinned “It’s like you read my mind”

She rolled her eyes behind her aviators chuckling at the boy “I don’t actually think that’s it Walls” She walked past him and Wally gaped

“Oh, come on! You can’t seriously think the man said poof and the whole thing disappeared right?” He claimed bothered

“Why not? Kadabra may use it but his technology isn’t from this era and wouldn’t have let you walk through at your speed! You would have seen ultraviolet rays as you ran through” She answered

Before he could argue back Kaldur walked forwards, key in hand “Stand behind me” He called and pressed the key against an empty space right in front of them, as he turned the key a tall tower appeared out of nowhere.

Victoria grinned looking back at Wally before walking inside after Kaldur, she could almost hear the scoff Wally made behind her.

Once inside the room, Superboy’s voice echoed “Uh, where did the door go?”

The image of Kent Nelson appeared in front of them glowing “Greetings, you have entered with a key, but the tower does not recognize you, please state your purpose and intent”

Victoria thought that if Wally wasn’t trying to impress M’gann he wouldn’t speak up at that moment, but he did, to mock the illusion “We are true believers! Here to find Doctor Fate”

_‘Oh boy’_

Victoria glared at him before quickly reaching up to the ceiling with her grappling hook right before Kent’s illusion disappeared, she held Wally close by the waist before yelling as the floor trembled “Look out!”

The floor caved in quickly under their feet and Victoria shifted the weight of him in her arms with trouble, he was heavier than he looked. This allowed M’gann to lift Superboy up quickly but just right after he had touched the lava with his feet.

“Those” He spat “Were my favorite boots, this Nelson guy better be worth it”

“Having trouble” M’gann sweated “Maintaining altitude, I’m so hot” She worried.

“But no one’s as hot as you babe” Wally said dreamily staring at the girl who was struggling to keep him up

“Wally!” Artemis yelled

“Hey! Inches above sizzling death I’m entitled to speak my mind!” He claimed loudly while Victoria growled lowly, something about him _‘just having to say something to the tower’_

“My physiology and M’gann’s are susceptible to extreme heats, we must climb out quickly” Aqualad stressed

“Hello Megan!” Miss M started “We never truly answered the question” She realized forming a megaphone with her hands “Red Tornado sent us, to see if Mister Nelson and the helmet were safe!”

The lava was soon covered, completely gone after M’gann’s intervention, Victoria sighed relieved, she couldn’t really talk as she fumbled over Wally in her arms.

Once they reached the floor Wally placed an arm around Victoria’s shoulder as if to reassure her but she glared shrugging him off “I understand why you don’t believe in magic, but you put us all in danger just to mock it! Are you crazy?” She growled at him and he was surprised, it wasn’t the first time she called him out like this but it always seemed too sudden for him

“Fine Fine! I shouldn’t have lied to the tower, but magic is the real lie! A major load” He crossed his arms angrily

“Wally, I studied for a year at the conservatory of sorcery in Atlantis, the mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water bearers” Aqualad defended

“Dude, you ever hear of bioelectricity? Hey, in primitive cultures fire was considered magical too, today it’s all just a bunch of tricks”

“You’re pretty close-minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers.” Artemis argued

“That’s science, I recreated Flash’s laboratory experiment, and here I am! Everything can be explained by science” Wally concluded frustrated

“Was—“ Victoria didn’t get to say anything when she was interrupted by Wally

“You out of everyone should understand Vix! You explained your powers yourself” He pointed at her and then started explaining to the rest “She has photo-umbra-kinesis! She gets the ability to concentrate electromagnetic radiation visible to the eye”

“The fact that it can indeed be explained by science doesn’t exactly make magic impossible, one shouldn’t be exclusive to the other, I believe in magic and like to explain it but sometimes it can’t, like when this tower appeared! You taught me every method of concealing it you knew and none of them match with what we saw, besides, it’s not like Kaldur knew exactly were to place the key to open it, that couldn’t possibly be coincidence and my Photo-umbra-kinesis is still a supernatural force with a reaction that occurs from mere will and no other source, therefore, it’s magic” She smugly answered

“Let’s prove it” Before Wally could argue back Kaldur started lifting a door in the floor

“Wait! The back-draft from the lava will roast us alive!” Wally worried but once the door opened, snowflakes came out of the other side.

Victoria jumped through to the snowy dreamland without looking back at Wally who was telling Artemis how they were inside a pocket dimension.

_‘He is incorrigible, you’d think so many comics about him later I wouldn’t be surprised’_

A light made Nelson’s baton appear in front of them and without thinking Victoria walked over to it entranced.

“Ooh, it must be Nelson’s magic wand” Wally called unimpressed before rushing over, taking it on his hand right as Victoria did, her eyes widened

“I can’t let go!” The boy yelled eyes wide as they were suddenly lifted up by the baton, disappearing just as it came  
  
  


They both appeared in a strange room surrounded by stairs, sitting up Wally looked forwards and frowned “Abra Kadabra” He called out to the bearded man

“Well, would you look at that?” Nelson smirked looking at both teens on the floor, the wand started glowing once again in their hands and Nelson had flown towards them, right as he made contact with the wand they were free from grasping it.

“In here,” The man told them making an elevator appear right in front of them, they quickly disappeared inside of it much to the lord of chaos’ chagrin.

Inside, a moment of silence settled before Kent spoke up “I’m Kent Nelson by the way”

“No duh—Ow!” The red head complained rubbing his side right after Victoria had nudged him firmly

She smiled at the man “My name’s Victoria and Mr.Manners over here is Wally” She presented herself, using her real name and making Wally look at her weirdly because of it.

“Well, Victoria, we’re up against an opponent of tremendous mystic power”

“Abra Kadabra?” Wally scoffed, he was doing that a lot today “Flash proved he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic, guy’s all show and no biz”

“Right you are” Nelson stated, but to Wally’s bother Victoria smiled knowingly “Abra IS a charlatan, but Clarion, the witch boy, the kid with the cat, he’s an actual Lord of chaos, the ultimate enemy of a Lord of order like Doctor Fate”

“Right, you’re a lord of order” Wally said unconvinced

“Oh no, not me, I’m just an old coot Fate used to put on” Kent reminisced “Until my wife Inza convinced me there could be more to life, ah, she was a real pistol that Inza” The man smiled looking at the picture inside his pocket watch.

«•••»

Victoria kicked Kadabra on the back of his head before sending him to Superboy for a kick, she was about to throw one of her bombs when they were all captured by him, she yelled in paint at the electricity from the web she got caught in, worrying, she hadn’t been able to reach them in time, Kadabra had gotten to her before she could reach the bell Wally and Kent disappeared into, so Kent would die anyway.

She was trying to remind herself it wasn’t her fault, but it was hard not to when she had known beforehand, when she had the chance to stop it.  
  
She tried to remind herself the man would soon meet his wife and would help Kaldur not get stuck in the helmet or the helmet being too out of reach from them in time of need.

«•••»

“Hey, new prize?” Victoria looked at Wally, leaning at the entrance to Wally’s self proclaimed trophy room.

“What, not going to say anything about my belief in magic?" He asked her, hands on his hips

She lifted an eyebrow and copied him, placed her hands on her hips before making a series of hand gestures “Energy from the thing rewrote my brain’s beta waves, I was bioscripted into becoming Doctor Fate for a few minutes, no big” She said accurately depicting what he would have said before smiling at his startled expression “You’ll just shrug it off like that, but you’ll see Wally, I’m not giving up this discussion, I for one know exactly what happened when you put on the helmet, also, you didn’t get to say anything about what I claimed over _my_ powers” She finished before turning on her heels and walking away

Wally looked startled at the spot she had just left before turning back to the helmet and remembering the words Kent had given him right before he came back to full control over his body.

_“Find your own little spitfire, one who won’t let you get away with nothin’”_

Wally bit the inside of his cheek momentarily, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from curving up, he hurried out of the room to reach out for the dark haired girl; if he knew her well she would be in the kitchen making a hot drink.

If she knew _him_ well then she would already be making a second cup.


	10. Downtime-10, Bereft-11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vixen still found time in between her busy schedule to worry about her impact on Wally's romantic life; it was hard not to when he had been paying such attention to her just for what she deemed an inevitable heartbreak when he'd fall in love with Artemis.
> 
> And regardless of those thoughts? She can't seem to tell him no when he asks her to accompany him to meet her favorite superhero.
> 
> After that sweet moment expected them a big headache and amnesia.

**MOUNT JUSTICE**  
**August 27, 07:58EDT**

“I need to talk to Aqualad” Batman spoke just as they reached the cave from a disastrous mission “The rest of you, hit the showers and head home”

“Head home? I _am_ home” Superboy stated as he left

Vixen and Robin had moved to stand next to Aqualad, even though she knew what came next Vixen reacted like this automatically, growing too used to teaming with Batman.

“Just Aqualad” Batman stressed and Vixen felt the bitter pang of bother that hit Robin too as she followed him out of the room; she knew what Bats wanted to talk about with Kaldur, but from Robin’s view, it was a talk between leaders Batman didn’t want him to partake on.

She could understand, it may as well be a rite of passage for the Batman’s sidekick; to feel like you need to show off for him, to crave his approval, a _‘Well done’_ a proud expression, a reaction from the bat.

“Just Aqualad” Robin mumbled bitterly without looking at her as they made their way through the hallway, she stopped in her place and the boy turned when he noticed she wasn’t following anymore.

As he turned he saw her warm smile “It’s not like that, you know, if Batman trusts anyone that’s you birdie, Kaldur was just really distracted today” her words ran warmly across the room and the boy sighed reaching to rub his neck as he thought them out, he smiled up at her.

It was nice, to be so close to someone that you don’t need as many words to explain yourself anymore, they only had to share a couple of looks and they were set.

Still, she was pretty sure her words wouldn't stop him from discharging at the manor's gym, and she guessed that was for the best.

«•••»

There were worries she couldn’t tell Dick about, but she wished she could. Her mind had been running around lately as she worried over Wally’s flirting in particular.

She knows how the story goes; Wally flirted with M’gann, or in this case, with her, but he would discuss with Artemis, she would be his spitfire even if he wouldn't admit it soon; eventually Wally would realize M’gann was taken, eventually he would realize how great Artemis was, he would grow fond of her, he would worry about her, he would fall for her, that was the story. 

But the story wasn’t going that way. It’s not like Wally was ignoring Artemis or like they didn’t discuss at all, but there were parts of their relationship that she considered crucial on their romance that simply weren’t happening because of her, because Wally chose to speak about the things he would have spoken to Artemis about with her, she wasn’t only replacing M’gann on Wally’s mind, she was replacing Artemis.

But regardless of that, it was obvious Wally would choose Artemis at the end, so she didn't worry too much about that point exactly.

They would go to Stanford and live together there, they would have one of the most romantic kisses under the Eiffel tower and spend 5 happy years together; if she could help it then much longer, and Victoria? Victoria had no room on that picture, she was sure they would eventually get together even if she had to help them realize this.

The real issue here, the one she had to admit to herself, came to light because of the battle tonight.

As Clayface fooled everyone [As seen in the “Young Justice” comic by CN, Issue #13] she had tried to warn her team, but had to fight a fake Superboy before she had the chance to get to them, finally she had gotten to Kid Flash, having the intention to warn him but stopped short.

In front of her she saw KF about to kiss a clay version of _herself_ made by Clayface. She swiftly shot her gadgets at the thing, freezing it in cement while throwing KF away. They got back to the team and didn’t mention what happened.

But it’s hard to ignore the fact that one of your best friends had been so willing to kiss you, it had been so blatantly obvious how he had wanted that kiss to happen, how sweetly he held her fake figure and the image on her mind wasn’t something she wanted. Not when she was absolutely aware that he couldn’t be hers, not when she had realized _that_ was hurting her.

So she reminded herself, Wally wasn’t hers, _couldn’t be hers_ , he was meant for Artemis, and Victoria wasn’t meant to hurt about it.

“Hey Vic!” The aforementioned boy called out, making her eyes widen as she tried to get rid of any thought on that situation “So, my family is having this get together, you know, to celebrate Jay’s birthday, the original Flash” He told her animatedly

She looked confused and tilted her head at him “That’s pretty cool Walls, but why are you telling me?” She asked curiously and he chuckled, reaching up to the back of his neck.

“Well, I thought maybe you’d like to come, Barry will be there and I thought this would be a great opportunity for you to officially meet your hero, you know, out of formalities and all that” He grinned knowingly at her

There was a moment in which she had been talking with Wally about the league and had accidentally revealed she had owned plenty of Flash merchandise on her dimension; Wally had been ecstatic when he realized her favorite superhero was his favorite superhero too! So as he ranted to her about it and how cool it was beside giving her a re-run on how he got his superpowers, she listened intently to his explanation, happy at how excited the boy seemed; she did think Barry was great, she did admire him, but the thing was that she hadn’t been talking about Barry when she said Flash was her favorite superhero, _she was talking about Wally_ \--not that he could know yet--.

As she thought momentarily Wally started looking at her with a pout on his lips.

She caved at the sad puppy expression “Alright, I’ll go, it would be dumb to miss a chance on meeting The Flash in civilian form plus actually talking to him directly” She grinned up at the boy

“Cool! Then I’ll meet you here in an hour so get ready gorgeous” He said eagerly before disappearing, leaving only a trail of dust behind him.

«•••»

Victoria was berating herself, she had _just_ been thinking about how close she was getting to Wally and now she was on his arms on the way to his family reunion, you know who does that kind of thing? A girlfriend, so this wasn’t really helping her case of trying to have strictly platonic feelings towards her best friend.

Once in front of the doorstep, with her feet on the floor her hair had become a mess, so she passed her fingers through it and observed the door quietly. She took a breath.

Maybe Barry wasn’t her all-time favorite, but she did think he was great, now she realized she had no idea what to talk to him about, suddenly, as she pondered this a hand squeezed her shoulder and she looked up to Wally who was wearing a reassuring smile.

“Hey, he’ll adore you, alright? Just be yourself, he’s chill, that’s more than perfect” He said and Vic smiled at his words

Wally knocked on the door and before she could process it Barry was in front of them wearing a bright grin “Hey! Kid, Vixen, it’s good to see you two, thanks for coming”

“You can call me Victoria Mr. Allen, it’s great to see you too” She smiled happily at the older man who chuckled as they walked inside

“Then just call me Barry, come on kids! We were about to start without you”

«•••»

After being presented to everyone she was soon sitting down, a plate with more than enough food sitting right in front of her and a bright smile on her face as she became more comfortable by the minute.

“I’m really happy to finally meet you, Wally talks about his teammates all the time and about Robin especially, but ever since he met you he won’t-“

“Mom!” Wally stopped his mother from saying anything else, feeling absolutely embarrassed as Victoria started chuckling

“Wally is one of my closest friends so I’m pretty flattered Miss— Mary” She quickly corrected herself at the look the woman had started to give her “He is always helping me out” Mary cooed at her words

“Ah, you are the sweetest! No wonder he likes you so much”

“ _Mom!_ ” Wally dragged the word, hands on his face and his friend laughing beside him

«•••»

“I’ll take that, and that and this and those, and these. How about that?” Barry said rushing around the table to pick up everyone’s empty plates, Victoria knew the speedsters ate a lot, but actually seeing it in person left her astounded, in fact? Wally had finished _her_ plate “This too”

“Thanks, uncle Barry” Wally smiled, having only had the chance to stand up from his place before his plate was gone

“You are a lucky lady Iris, our Wally is certainly not that fast” The aforementioned’s mom spoke and then looked at Victoria with a smirk “Not when it comes to cleaning the table”

Wally thought he had been embarrassed enough for a day.

“Wally’s fast enough when he wants to” As Barry spoke Victoria realized her friend wasn’t sitting beside her anymore “We’re suddenly out of ice cream”

The boy looked sheepishly at her from the kitchen and Victoria grinned wide

“Wally!” His mother glared

“Uh, happy birthday”

«•••»

Thanks for inviting me Wally” Victoria smiled softly as they made their way back to the cave where Batman would be giving them a briefing on another mission “Seriously, I know I hesitated at first but I am really happy I went, it was the best meal I’ve had in a good while”

“Oh please, you live with Bruce Wayne, the best meals are always served at the table” He rolled his eyes at her with an amused grin

“Well, when Alfred doesn’t make cucumber sandwiches perhaps” She made a disgusted face sticking out her tongue at the memory “But the way your family treated me and how alive the night was…it made me feel really warm and happy” her hands went up as she looked at him “I mean, Bruce and Dick are great company! Dick doesn’t usually let things get boring but, you know it’s not as nice and warm as a family dinner like with yours, thank you” She told him sincerely while looking him in the eyes.

The boy gulped after staring at her for a moment “You’re welcome” He softly said before looking away as they continued walking “You know? I really like your eyes when they’re this color” He blurted out at her

“What color?” Victoria asked curiously, she had no idea what color they had at the very moment since she hadn’t been thinking of any

Wally smiled warmly, looking at her for a moment as they reached the tube which was concealed as an old phone cabin “Pink” He said simply and she raised an eyebrow curiously before reaching for the phone cabin’s door

“I will keep that in mind,” She told him softly as she tried to look away from him by entering the cabin

“Wait” His voice seemed hesitant as she turned back around to look at him, he had a frown on his face as he looked down and then back up at her “I am really glad you came, maybe we should hang out like this more, you know, you and me” He said rapidly

She tried telling herself she was only setting herself up for a broken heart, for getting hurt, but she couldn’t help the tiny smile as she answered him before disappearing through the zeta beam “I would be happy with that”  
  
«•••»  
  
 **???**  
??-??  
  


“Hey, beautiful, wake up” a male voice called and Victoria was startled awake.

The girl stared up with her eyes wide open at the boy in front of her and then quickly scurried away, panic entering her mind as she searched through a million possibilities and observed her surroundings.  
  
“Hey it’s Ok, it’s Ok! I won’t hurt you, I’m one of the good guys” He reassured lifting a hand up to calm her before standing up “You know, Kid Flash”

How was this not a dream? The whole situation was ridiculous, did she get close to a convention with one of her friends and just…what? “Pretty cool suit, but it’s a completely wrong color,” she told the Kid Flash cosplayer while wracking her brain for some comic she missed in which her favorite hero had worn a black suit like that

“A little unclear on that myself” He answered after looking himself over, seemingly genuinely confused “What about you? Robin Fixation?” He asked

She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows for a moment before realizing her clothes didn’t consist only of a cool jacket and boots, but a cape and a mask too “I don’t actually remember putting these on” She said, worry growing every minute, mostly over how she got those clothes or why it seemed to be so hot outside “Where are we?”

“Another unanswered question really” The boy answered with a frown “You know how to use that stuff?” He pointed at her gadgets and she pulled out a foxarang, it was too real and to well made for it to only be part of some weird dream or a toy belt

“Why don’t we figure that out handsome?” She asked before walking closer

“Hey, if we both have such good views of one another maybe we should talk it out, you know, over a drink? After we find out what’s going on here” He smirked

The sound of a missile falling made him quickly sprint to action, he grabbed onto her and quickly pulled them out of the building before the missile killed them

“We can think about that date later!”

Judging by the whole explosion she had just seen right in front of her eyes and the far away desert she had just found herself in as she ran away with a boy who called himself Kid Flash…Victoria had suddenly realized she was pretty much screwed and somehow, most probably on a completely different dimension if this really wasn’t a dream.

They were being persecuted by a couple vehicles from which some men were trying to shoot; her hands flew reflexively to the utility belt hanging from her waist and her fingers traveled around for a compartment.

She reached for some bombs and prayed they would actually work like she wanted and that she wasn’t a failure at throwing them, so she sent them at one of the vehicles and they quickly stuck to the front of it, she couldn’t believe she had just done that, much less when they exploded and the vehicle flew back from it.

Just as the adrenaline kicked harder in her and she was throwing more bombs the boy she had been running with had suddenly taken her up on his arms and was running faster than she could imagine possible.

By this moment it was pretty obvious she had met the real Kid Flash.

“Sorry, they’ve got bigger bombs” He called as two explosions followed were they had been standing before

He dodged three more explosions before she looked back at him in awe “Thanks” she couldn’t help the grin on her face despite the life-threatening experience

“Hey, I told you, good guy” He grinned, she was surprised at how natural this whole thing felt, as if she had done it many times before, more so how easy it was to be talking with her favorite superhero “Now, not to pry, but what’s your name?”

«•••»

“Duh, of course you do! You are Kid Flash! Wally! And you are Vixen!” The martian girl she didn’t remember reading about informed them

“Wait, wait, wait, Martian Manhunter is your uncle? Is that how you know my name?”

“Wait, Vixen? Is that supposed to be me?” Apparently Victoria had a secret identity and she pretty much had already revealed it to Kid Flash, hopefully that hadn't been a mistake.

“It’s Ok! We are teammates, friends, I made you cookies” Miss Martian tried to explain

Both Kid Flash and Vixen stared for a moment “This is a lot of information to process, I don’t even know how I am here” Vixen called before turning to Wally “So you know her?” She asked trying to make some sense of the situation

Sense that wasn’t given to her by Wally’s answer “N-no I swear, beautiful, never seen her before in my life! At least not that I—“

Miss M sighed “You both lost your memories too”

«•••»

Following a GPS Victori— Vixen had found on her wrist computer they all began tracking Robin to where he was being ambushed.

The computer was easy to use for her, and after such a walk it was finally really dawning on her the impossible situation she was in and how she was just casually helping her favorite superhero, more than that, she was tracking Robin, THE Robin! Who by the looks of it had helped her with the wrist computer she was using, so she had to know him!

As they got in front of where Robin was being attacked she reached down to her belt “Cover eyes and ears!” She yelled before throwing flash-bang grenades at the men, Robin, despite not hearing quickly reacted to cover himself.

With the unhearing and blind soldiers, Vixen jumped from the shoulders of one to hit the next while KF quickly got rid of their weapons

Soon the men were all on the floor and Robin grinned greeting Kid Flash

“KF! Man, it’s good to see a familiar face”

“Hey Rob, memory loss?”

“Six months! Let’s hogtie these creeps and compare notes”

«•••»

“We need to hack our minds to grok what happened to us, got it, go!” Robin easily allowed

“My brain’s all yours, try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you” Wally smirked

“Or UNDERwhelm you” Robin smirked, by reflex looking at Vixen who had a really similar smirk on her face too “Hey, why isn’t anyone ever just whelmed?”

Losing the grid she had been wearing, Victoria had realized even if she did need her memories back she couldn’t let Miss Martian into her mind, obviously she knew too much about some future outcomes of the league and the universe she was currently in, it couldn’t really be safe, could it?

Wally’s hand had slipped onto hers and squeezed, she looked up at the boy whose green eyes tried to calm her reassuringly.

“I have information I can’t share” She spoke looking away from Wally to M’gann “If you can take only information we really need from those missing months, do you think I could regain the rest of my memory by myself anyway?”

“It is possible that with the other half of your memory things will start clicking in by themselves, we can try like that” M’gann assured quickly and Vixen smiled

“Alright”

«•••»

Everything was coming back to her mind as if she was watching a movie of her own life.

Rushed in many images of Dick lying on bed with her as they watched movies, threw popcorn and spoke throughout the whole night with big grins on their faces; Alfred smiling down at her as they made cookies together, the touch of Bruce’s hand messing up her hair caringly without saying much but the huge feeling of accomplishment that crawled up on her as she was reassured of having done a great job.

Sitting at the movies besides Superboy and Roy then going to get fast food, Kaldur smiled as he spoke of Atlantis, Superboy rolling his eyes childishly at almost anything really, Roy grinning, one of the rare grins she actually got to see on him as they talked and talked.

Megan and Artemis chuckling as they made the most ridiculous impressions of the league she could remember ever seeing and then daring her to steal Batman’s cape, as if they thought she wouldn’t do it.

And, oh, why where there so many memories of Wally? Before this she hadn’t really realized how much of a constant the boy had become on her life

From texts they shared in the mornings as he complained throughout school, to sneaking him inside the Batcave so the three of them (Dick too) could spend a while playing Mario Kart.

_‘How did you even get a cut that deep on your side?’ She had asked him while being careful with her stitches, the boy flinched slightly each time the needle went through but he still didn’t complain at all ‘I mean, deep enough for you to get stitches when you are supposed to have fast healing’_

_‘Hey, it was you or me babe, and I was close’_

_Victoria frowned at his words, their mugs of hot chocolate getting cold on the table as she continued ‘You were at the opposite side of the warehouse, just because you’re fast doesn’t mean-‘_

_‘I’m fine, I just worry about you’_

The memories clicked together and she remembered everything, her eyes widened in horror letting go of Wally’s hand as she realized something had just changed because of her.

“Aqualad AND Artemis are gone!”

«•••»

KF and Vixen were dragging Aqualad to the Bioship while Robin looked for Artemis

Vixen looked down at the Atlantean with a deep scowl, if she hadn’t been here Artemis would be fine, she would have been with KF, but right now Vixen had no idea if her friend was hurt or intact, she could only tell she was alive by her movement as the tracker on her computer kept going.

The sound of a vehicle closing in called for their attention and both teenagers quickly hid behind a rock to avoid the soldiers

“You are too lost in thought” Wally whispered to her, hints of worry in his voice but he tried to make light of it “What’s wrong?”

Whenever the tone of the conversation was like this —or she didn’t fear using their real names could get them in trouble— in her mind the names changed, like right now, he wasn’t Kid Flash, it was her friend, Wally; Victoria shook her head looking back down at Kaldur “I couldn’t avoid losing my own memories even when I knew what would happen, I pulled you all through unnecessary pain” She explained but Wally wasn’t having it though.

“You know better than anyone that some things happen to us because we need the experience, it was meant to be, that’s not it, what is really bothering you?” He asked, his face close to hers, too close, she was having a hard time thinking about anything else but that.

“Artemis didn’t originally get lost like this” She admitted “It’s my fault she did, if I hadn’t been here she would have been safe, my presence is altering the timeline in ways I am not sure it should be altered in, right now Artemis was just lost but later something could change for the worse”

“Nothing will” Wally called decidedly “There are things that are just meant to happen, you said it yourself, there are things that change because of you and things that no one can do anything about, I think this only means, you aren’t omnipotent” He smiled softly at her “You can’t do everything, and no one can save everyone, maybe now you are just becoming another member of the team, with cool skills and a slight sense for what could happen in the future, and to me? This sounds great, it means you are making an impact on our life” He reached out slowly for her hand “And I kinda like that impact”

Her eyes widened at his words and she smiled warmly at the boy who with only a couple of words had found how to calm her down, she was about to thank him when there was a voice calling from behind them.

“Yeesh, get a room,” Robin said leaning behind them with a grin, Artemis smiled by his side

“If you wanted quality time you should have warned us, we’ll leave you alone at the cave if—“

“We need to get Kaldur to the ship pronto” Vixen let go of KF’s hand and got back up to continue dragging Kaldur.


	11. Targets-12, Homefront-14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After helping Red Arrow and Aqualad in Taipei, Vixen decides to take a little trip to Cadmus.
> 
> It messes with her mind when she catches sight of the original Roy, laying on a pod, waiting.
> 
> And worst of all, not being sure if she should save him or wait.

**WAYNE MANOR**  
**September 7th, 08:34EDT**

“Can’t live without me, can you Red?”

“You are filled into the assassination attempt towards the arbitrator for the peace treaty between both Rhelasias, aren’t you? What’s Luthor’s endgame?”

“I know it must be a bit scary that I know, but it freaks me that you may know I know” Victoria provided before hearing the boy on the other line speaking

“You won’t tell me anything, will you?” Said boy asked defeatedly, having quickly understood her also stubborn personality.

“I can’t Red, any information I may provide has its risks for how people could react to them”

There was a small pause “The summit will be happening soon, Kaldur is coming but having you there would be a good advantage for us”

“You don’t need me there Red, that is information I _can_ provide, but…” The girl bit her lip thinking for a moment

“But?”

“I’ll do you a small favor going there, just so you don’t do Luthor a solid, mostly to hang out, to be honest, Alfred’s making cucumber sandwiches and I want out”

“Is that really it or is it actually you who can't live without me, Vix?” Roy asked smugly

“…That quick change of attitude is creepy Red, don’t do it”

«•••»

 **THE BATCAVE**  
**September 8th, 10:20EDT**

Victoria was gazing at the huge screen half-heartedly, she hadn’t really taken notice of it, but watching TV with Conner as company (Even if he didn’t say much) was much more comfortable than what she was doing now, but he was at school now, so she’d have to deal.

After helping Red Arrow in Taipei for the summit she had ended up doing research of her own. She had ended up sneaking into CADMUS in search for the original Roy.

It still gave her chills to think about it, about the original Speedy inside that pod. After what felt like such a long time of going on missions with Batman, she had gotten used to seeing terribly unpleasant things, but she hadn’t been scared until she had seen Roy last night, a boy who had already missed out on so much of his life.

And realizing his fate was lying on her hands.

It wasn't gruesome, it wasn't an ugly sight, yet it hurt too much.

What was worse? Just staring, being unable to do anything; she had spent most of the night just sitting right in front of him, thinking of every single possibility and scenario she could conjure from his future, what could she do? What _should_ she do? She could save him! Give him his life back even if it had already been so long! Save the new Roy a lot of pain and years of guilt.

So why didn’t she?

Victoria rested her face in her hands, every time she closed her eyes she saw him.

There is too much responsibility on knowing the future, there is a lot of things that can’t be changed, that shouldn’t be changed and to try to find out which should was a hard hit on a person’s conscience.

What made it harder to finish this decision was mostly the outcomes outside of the TV show, for one, an easy one, there was this: Roy Harper, the one who becomes Arsenal, was meant to be closer in age to Jason Todd. They would be best friends, become a team after Jason came back from the dead.

If she freed him now, would they still be best friends? Would they still help each other out so closely? Would she mess them both up worse?

Jason was meant to die, there weren't supposed to be two Roy Harpers, it was like dividing his life into two parts, but like at the end they would suffer all the same.

She was still wrecking her mind over a solution when the reason she was in the Batcave at all instead of her bed rushed in from the stairs.

“Alright, so I have every snack we could want in here, but you have to hide them, because when Wally sees these there will be nothing left, I still can’t believe he doesn’t have school today” Dick called lightly before he noticed the posture Victoria had just been rising from and frowned “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked walking around the couch they had set up and sat beside her.

“It’s nothing, I’m just very tired” She answered about to take one of the chocolates her adoptive sibling had been holding over both his arms.

“Vicky, come on, I know you disappeared who knows where last night, this is not your usual I’m tired kinda thing” He smiled softly at her waiting for an answer.

She hesitated before sighing, her gaze wandered off to the coffee table in front of them “I can’t tell you, I’m just…trying to come to terms with the fact that I can’t save everyone”

Dick looked at her solemnly before leaning back like her on the couch, there was a pause, the only sound in the room being made by the TV before he spoke “I’m pretty sure you know this but you don’t have to save everyone, no one can, you might have to make too many strong choices but at the end, whichever you choose I always know there is a reason behind it on the bigger picture I just won’t be able to see, and that’s fine Vicky”

He looked up at her with a smile “We’re here for you, Wally and me, we have your back, because we know you are doing your best, we trust your decisions even if they might sound far-fetched to us at times”

Victoria was about to speak, tell him how much like Batman's would these decisions have to be like, how people could be risked, when a loud voice and a gust of wind interrupted her.

“Ready to get your ass handed to you guys? Because I’m going to completely beat you today” Wally had started saying before he stole a couple snacks from Dick who had been unable to hide them fast enough.

Victoria laughed at both bickering boys and Dick smiled at her, the room getting much more comfortable now

«•••»

Dick had disappeared in the search for more snacks, not before complaining loudly about how Wally couldn’t leave anything for them.

Both teenagers left in the room were laughing loudly, completely sprawled out on the couch, a bowl of popcorn falling to the floor and shoes were thrown around the floor.

“I want a refund!” Victoria had yelled in between her laughing spree only making Wally laugh much louder “Thi-this game is so-oh-oh _bad!_ ” She tried to say, her words barely understandable as she tried to speak while watching her character disappear through a wall and get stuck only prompting another fit from her “Like! COME ON!”

“The page says they recently fixed a bunch of bugs but” Wally was barely containing himself “it’s like there’s this huge broken wall they have to fix but they do it with tape” He started cackling loudly again and they just couldn’t stop

The laughter eventually subsided until both of them were looking at each other with huge grins across their faces.

“Alright so, I wasn’t going to mention it” Wally spoke after a moment and lifted up his hands in defense before continuing his sentence “But you have the darkest eye bags and that’s saying something considering who I’m talking to”

At this point in her more relaxed state Victoria easily replied without thinking “That’s Roy’s fault”

The grin of the boy beside her faltered a little “Roy? What did he do?” He asked, his confused eyes on her making her groan

“No, I mean, not directly, I mean, I did go with him and Kaldur to help at the summit in Taipei but that was early morning here so” She rambled and flinched as she tried to find the words “It was just, I was thinking about his future last night you know, the future that’s weird and I don’t know what to do with it so”

By this point Wally’s grin had completely disappeared “Uh, yeah! Nothing bad right? Just, what about the future? Not that you can tell me, unless it’s something unimportant right? I wouldn’t be-“

“No, Wally” She interrupted his rambling “Just, thoughts I had alright?” She smiled taking the control back from the table

He followed her movements to press continue on the game, his eyes shifting from her down to the control on his hands “Right”

«•••»

 **WAYNE MANOR**  
**September 22, 06:00EDT**

“Mistress Victoria” Alfred knocked on the door to said girl’s room but only received groans as a response, “It is the first day of school, if you both want to get there in time you should rise now" The man continued before opening the door, a new uniform on his hands.

Victoria groaned louder but started shifting from her position in bed, resigned to the cold enveloping her body as she left the warm sheets.

“I’d say, since you have the ability to learn things much faster I didn’t think you’d be so grouchy about today” He started almost amused as he placed her uniform on top of the bed.

Victoria smiled slightly at Alfred “Not that school is really the problem right now, you should know I am not a morning person Alfie”

«•••»

Dick had been escorting her everywhere through school, showing her every classroom, introducing her to people and warning her about how to act in front of certain teachers.

And class? Class had been so easy! It wasn’t that school had been really hard on her before, but no one really likes school, so having such a great advantage that seemed more like a photographic memory when it came down to class work was amazing.

There was one thing she found truly amusing, Artemis had two classes with her so Victoria had to be pretty careful about hiding her identity, that was a worry, but it was too funny that her friend wasn’t suspecting anything. Though, she shouldn’t socialize with her out of costume at all.  
  
She had fixed her hair differently to hopefully throw the archer off a bit. Comic book logic.

When school was over Robin and Vixen observed Artemis carefully on her way to a zeta tube, ready to ambush the girl with questions.

Right after that though she knew what was coming, she had purposefully left back at the cave any EMP emitter she might have at hand, who would have thought Batman actually had those on the belts? In any case, as much easier as the whole thing could be this wasn't about making things easier, Artemis had to do things herself.

«•••»

“Gosh babe, it’s good to see you but, shouldn’t you be helping Artemis?” Wally asked while the water was slowly rising, the boy of steel was looking at her in the water around them with exasperation.

“If you can lie around here you can help M’gann out” The boy growled making her look at his blue eyes sheepishly

“I should be following her but I thought I’d help you guys out of this first, just— look, you need to act like you are still stuck when I do”

“Why?! If we’re free then—“ Superboy was interrupted by Vixen

“M’gann will be fine, I promise, it’s just that I won’t be able to get you guys out of these restraints later so I must do it now” She tried to explain even though the boy couldn’t be sure

“I trust you, we won’t move from here for anything until you say we can” Wally firmly told her and then looked at Superboy who had pretty much just resigned.

«•••»

“We need to do something about them quick!” Vixen had yelled as she rushed over to both robots on the floor. After Artemis had done the brave thing and started the EMP emitter Superboy and Wally had gotten out to help “The emitter shut off all machines but—“

“All machines present at the time” Red Tornado’s robotic voice interrupted as he got close to them and Vixen rushed to him in worry

“Don’t touch them” She warned with her eyes wide as she looked at the Leaguer with her arms wide open

“What has occurred?” Tornado asked

“Had a little visit from your family” Robin began

“Yeah!” Artemis was soon to continue “Your extremely nasty family!”

“You need to contact the League, now” Vixen frowned deeply “Soon the emitter will stop and all machines will start working again including them, but you can’t touch them or they’ll try to rewrite your program” She rushed out quickly at the robot making everyone stare at her in surprise.

Tornado was quick to comply but the team --excluding Robin and Kid Flash-- was looking at her questioningly.

«•••»

They had quickly managed to restrain the robots as much as possible after her warnings and in time for the league to get there to help and things went much differently from originally planned. And yet, Tornado and the other robots managed to escape. She ended up getting sent into a room with only the rest of the League to talk, but at the end, she was unable to explain what would happen.

After she came out of the reunion with The League Vixen was surrounded by her teammates all looking at her questioningly, all except for Robin and Kid Flash of course who looked at her with different expressions, worry.

“I know that was really weird, it’s just” She scratched her neck, searching for a way out, anything, because it wasn’t time, she couldn’t tell them all what she knew.

It had been one thing to tell Kid Flash and Robin, but the rest of the team wouldn’t be too open to the truth, maybe Kaldur and M’gann would try to understand, but with Conner and Artemis it could wreak havoc at the moment, so not yet.

She sighed “I had a dream a couple of days ago” She tried, KF and Robin looked startled at both the answer and how swiftly it fell off her lips “I hadn’t been sleeping well and I didn’t rest much that night but I just saw this, Tornado’s siblings, you getting trapped and then at the end their disappearance, I think the robots overrode Tornado’s programming and that is why he seemed to have betrayed us. So I told Batman some of it before, that’s why the League wanted to talk to me”

The thoughtful look on Artemis told her she had taken the lie, Vixen felt bad anyway “It must have been a prophetic dream of warning but I guess it couldn’t be stopped anyway”

“Did you see anything else in your dream?” Kaldur asked, “Do you think reprogramming would have been the only reason Red Tornado seemed to betray us?”

“He didn’t betray us!” M’gann called loudly “H-he couldn’t have! He is a member of the Justice League, if he had wanted to betray anyone he would have done so already”

“Exactly,” Vixen continued “I am pretty sure the contact with them is the only reason he reacted that way, if they were made by T.O. Morrow, they were clearly ready for him”

«•••»

After a long discussion over the circumstances, everyone had taken a shower and disappeared, whether to go home or do their own thing.

“Is it another weight on your chest?” Dick asked Victoria in the kitchen, he was sitting on the opposite side of the counter but they weren’t really doing anything, just stalling before going back to Gotham.

“I’ll have to deal with it,” Vic rested her chin on the palm of her hand “I know it’s necessary, and hopefully they will understand eventually too”

Dick kept quiet for a moment only nodding his head in response, after a couple moments of quiet the boy started grinning “So, remember Bialya?”

Vic raised an eyebrow at him incredulously “I don’t think I will be forgetting having gotten stuck on the desert any time soon”

Dick chuckled “I was just thinking about how you spent a lot of time alone with KF there, you know, after we recovered our memories and I found you guys again he was pretty close to you, holding your hand, worrying—“

“ _Richa_ —“

“Oh, come on V! Don't act oblivious, you know Wally—“

Thankfully their phones vibrated, a message from Bruce requiring them, Victoria took the chance to rise up and escape the terrible conversation Dick wanted to engage in and he followed.

“You know, our conversation isn’t over” He warned her before they disappeared through the Zeta beam.


	12. Alpha Male-15, Revelations-16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She hopes at least Robin and Wally will be mature over Kaldur keeping things from them because they have grown careful over her having to keep things from them. Instead what she gets is a Wally unwilling to cooperate, she doesn't even know what he is mad at her for!

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**September 23, 05:46EDT**

“Figured you’d prefer a cold drink with all the work fixing the mountain” Vixen handed Wally a glass of cold tea and he smiled up at her thankfully.

“Thanks” He took the glass while she sat beside him “You look tired” He started and she made a face at him, as if asking if he was serious “I mean, besides the whole thing with Tornado”

She nodded knowingly “I’ve been thinking a lot about someone” she started looking down and Wally seemed to perk up at her.

“Do I know them? Does he have great red hair?” He asked mostly just jokingly and made her smile.

“Actually they do” She teased and Wally’s eyes widened, but she continued more seriously before he could say anything “I was actually thinking about Red Arrow”

“Red Arrow?” Wally visibly deflated

She looked down at her glass and continued explaining, if she wanted to help Roy she needed help, Wally and Robin would probably be the best choice at getting it “You see, I’ve been getting closer to him after the bonding night we had at the movies, so I started worrying more and more about him”

“Wait, so you have actually been hanging out?” Wally asked her with a weird look on his face and she easily nodded.

“Yeah, we bonded over movies and stuff like that you know? Besides, I know like, all his dirt on Green Arrow so that’s always fun, then there was the peace treaty in Taipei and I managed to get him to hang out so I didn’t have to eat Alfred’s sandwiches”

“You— you had never talked that much about him”

“I guess not, but I don’t tell you every single thing Wally” She tried to joke but Wally wasn’t laughing “Anyway, yeah, the thing I'm worrying about is actually pretty heavy” She didn’t know how to begin explaining to him that the Roy Harper he had known was actually a CADMUS clone, that was something rather big to lay on someone.

But Wally was completely gone, he glared at the floor as he listened to her “Heavy” he mumbled.

“Yes, so, I need your help Wally” She looked at him about to explain when she saw him stare at her in horror and stopped in her tracks.

“My help? With this? No I— how can you even _ask?_ Don’t you realize that…” He abruptly stood up from his seat and she looked at him worriedly standing up.

“What do you mean? I haven’t told you yet what—“

“Look, if you need help with something like this ask M’gann or Artemis, but why would you ask me? I think I’ve made it pretty obvious that I” He ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly “I can’t! I can’t do this for you, I can’t listen to you talking about—“

“Wally, I can’t tell them, you are Red’s friend and my best friend so you know—“

“Exactly! That’s more reason for me to not want to hear it!” He exclaimed with an expression of pure betrayal, he didn’t give her the chance to say anything else, he was gone when she blinked.

«•••»

“Thanks, but no thanks” Kid Flash mentioned in a voice she didn’t remember him originally using, he actually looked pretty sad and he had been avoiding and ignoring her for more than an hour now, which for the impatient speedster already seemed like a lot.

“Yeah, what we want are answers” Robin hadn’t seemed to notice yet how his best friend was really feeling, no one had really been in high spirits throughout the day “About Red Tornado and his siblings.

“Exactly!” Kid Flash finally rose from his slumped posture and stopped GA as he tried to take the bowl of pretzels away “Leave the bowl”

At least he hadn’t lost his crazy appetite.

Vixen had been really distracted chasing KF’s attention from her spot on the table, so it took her a moment to realize Conner was listening into Kaldur’s conversation with Batman.

She stood up from her place, reaching up for the boy of steel who was about to throw himself against their team leader.

“Connor, stop!” She yelled at him but he easily escaped her grasp

“You knew?!” Connor held onto Kaldur strongly in his fury “That android and his maniac family nearly killed M’gann!”

“That’s not true!” Vixen defended

“Connor, what are you doing?” M’Gann asked worriedly as she flew inside the room

“Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!”

“You _knew?_ ” Robin asked angrily

“And didn’t tell us?” KF quickly continued indignant, Vixen flashed them both a look, as if Kaldur was the only one keeping secrets, they knew _she_ had to.

“I sought to protect the team from—“

“Protect us from _what?_ Knowledge that might have saved our lives?”

Vixen wanted to vomit.

“You almost died!” Connor looked at M’gann

Vixen tried to stop the fight “I told you, Tornado didn’t betray us, he was just—“

“We can’t be sure about that!” Now Connor’s anger was directed at her “We only thought so because of your dreams, but if Kaldur knew there was a mole we can’t rely on it”

At her words Robin and Kid Flash hesitated but the mere fact that Kaldur had been keeping that from them or simply thinking that any of them could be a mole had them enraged.

“Enough” Batman stopped them “With Red Tornado missing the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors, Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift”

“I’m really looking forward to hanging with you guys” Marvel smiled at them, but the teams tension didn’t let them say anything back

Vixen saw Connor whispering something at Kaldur when Batman intervened “Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, that makes him a League responsibility, you will leave him to us, I have another assignment for this team”

Soon a screen appeared in front of them with pages of newspaper

“Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerrilla Gorilla?” KF asked condescendingly

“Batman, please!” Robin began and ignored the pulling he received on his cape from Vixen “Tell me you’re not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase”

“I never joke about the mission” Batman reprimanded him and Robin’s eyes went wide before he looked aside, realizing why his partner had pulled on his cape

“I’ve checked the sources,” Batman explained “I’ve studied the patterns. Mayor Hill’s encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents, Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out”

The rest of the team started walking towards the Bioship, KF turned back to scoff at Kaldur “Hmp, _‘your team’_ ” he mocked before leaving him behind

Vixen walked towards kaldur feeling terrible for not stopping this, but it would build trust within the team. She placed his hand over the Atlantean’s arm and smiled softly at him “They’ll understand eventually, when their head is cold enough to listen”

The Atlantean looked at her thankfully before they followed the rest.

«•••»

Artemis, Robin and Vixen jumped off the bishop with a line first making sure it was clear before the others followed out

“All clear” Robin called

“Switch to stealth and we’ll review mission parameters.” Aqualad ordered

Not strongly enough apparently “Parameters? We don’t need no stinking’ parameters” Kid Flash barked as he changed his suit to stealth

“It’s recon. We know what to do” Robin spoke coldly

“Kid. Robin!” Aqualad called frustrated

“The four of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from _us_ ”

“Or did you forget that like you forgot to tell us about the mole?” Kid was ready to run, goggles on but Robin turned back to Vixen expecting her to follow

She gave him a complicated look “Aqualad’s _still_ our leader, regardless, we trusted him to guide us and should listen to him”

The boy wonder’s eyes widened “Since when do you follow orders you think are wrong?” He asked flabbergasted

“I don’t think Aqualad’s wrong, I think you guys should listen first before judging” She frowned

“So you are on his side?” KF looked at her for the first time since their discussion at the mountain “He had no reason to distrust us!”

“You need to learn to _listen_ Wally!” She barked exhausted

Kid Flash gave her one last hurt look as he remembered those words and shook his head running away, Robin stopped for a moment wondering exactly what had happened before following his best friend.

«•••»

Not long since they had separated into the jungle when Vixen realized there was only so much support she could give Kaldur, Captain Marvel wasn’t going to spill too much wisdom while she intruded, so after connecting her comp to his and informing him where she would be searching she went after Robin and KF’s trail.

If she could help them defeat some crazy vultures earlier maybe she could manage to slip a conversation with KF before Aqualad called them.

“I thought Vultures only ate dead meat!” She heard Robin’s voice as he yelled and rushed towards the sound

“Yeah, these are some very proactive scavengers!” KF Huffed

“Proactive and supersize, you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Kobra-venom?”

“Yeah”

Vixen pulled out three grenades from her belt as she ran and set some somniferous on each before throwing them up at the Vultures. As the bombs exploded in front of them the Vultures started falling to the floor.

“Remove the collars!” She ordered while rushing over to one of the vultures’ neck

Both boys stared for a moment surprised before rushing over to the other ones; soon the three of them were breathing quickly after their run and the scare.

After a moment she looked at Wally who had immediately turned away and groaned at him “Come on! You can’t avoid me the whole mission, we are a team!”

“What a team! Kaldur’s keeping information from us and you—“

“I’m what?! What did I do? I don’t get it, I just asked for your help, but you don’t even know what I was gonna ask from you!”

Robin who stood in the middle of their discussion had wide eyes as he looked from one of his best friend’s to the other completely confused, he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

“It doesn’t matter, either way it’ll just hurt me and you don’t seem to care about that!” Kid looked like he wanted to tear his hair off

“Of course I care! But you will end up finding out one way or another! Red needs—“

“If I find out at least it won’t be because you have a frozen heart and want to rub your relationship with Red Arrow on my face!” He growled loudly and Vixen stared eyes open wide, Robin had a similar reaction, he couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“What are you-yo-you are so stupid!” She screamed, she felt like on the verge of tears, she had thought he was angry for something else, she thought he didn’t care what trouble she’d go through but he was just jealous; the boy was about to scream back at her furiously when she continued

“That has nothing to do with anything! If you had listened you’d _know_ I was worried for Red because he is about to go through a very hard time and you are his friend so he’ll listen to you! I am not as close to him, I’ve barely known him enough! I wasn’t about to rub on your face how much closer to him than you I had gotten” She felt the corners of her eyes burn.

Robin processed everything he had heard trying to connect the pieces, he was pretty sure KF wasn’t jealous for the reasons she had thought he was but nevertheless the red-head was staring at her in complete surprise.

“That was what you needed help with?” Kid Flash asked feeling a huge pang of guilt hit him

“Part of it, I wanted Robin and you to help me getting something, a sort of mission” She tried to explain more calmly.

Before KF could continue they felt M’Gann’s familiar touch connect them all.

_“Link established”_

_“Should you really still be giving us orders? And should you really be following them?”_ Artemis complained

 _“Listen, please.”_ Aqualad said

 _“Oh, good, Aqualad’s voice in my head, I’ve so missed that”_ KF made faces at Robin, Vixen sat down grumbling

_“Hey, Kaldur, K.F. Vixen and I were attacked by giant vultures. ‘Course since we’re moles you probably think we attacked ourselves.”_

Vixen groaned and dropped her head on her palms _“You guys are giving me a headache”_

 _“No kidding, I can feel it”_ M’Gann called softly

 _“If he did, he wouldn’t tell you”_ Artemis answered Robin

_“Superboy, are you online or just pouting?”_

_“Busy. Call back later.”_

Vixen actually thought that one comment was funny

 _“What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us.”_ Kid explained

_“He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant.”_

_“How can we be a team if he doesn’t trust us with his secrets?”_ Artemis asked

In her angry state Vixen slipped _“As if he is the only one with secrets”_

KF and Robin looked at her as if she was outing herself, but Vixen could feel the tension on Artemis’ side

 _“Or if Connor doesn’t trust us to take care of ourselves?”_ M’gann did not notice the tension in her own anger

 _“Did he really think you or I could have been the mole?”_ Kid angrily complained

 _“We’ve known each other for years!”_ Indignation, anger, it was mostly all that traveled through this connection

 _“It’s not like that, but again, you don’t care to listen”_ Vixen gave Kid a pointed look

 _“Trust is a two-way street and you know they’d hate it if we kept secrets from them.”_ Miss M’s tone was also getting angrier

_“Not that we’d do that. Never.”_

_“Enough.”_ Aqualad’s strong voice silenced them _“Captain Marvel has been captured and we must act as a team to save him”_

_“Hmm. Under your leadership? I don’t think—“_

_“This is not up for debate”_ Aqualad’s firm tone interrupting KF's surprised everyone _“You all chose me to lead, when the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader I will happily step down, but until that time, I am in command here”_

«•••»

“What are you grinning about?” Artemis asked

“One word, souvenir” Kid Flash answered getting Malah’s beret on top of his head

“Two words, gorilla lice” Artemis finished in a sing song tone

“Huh? Oh, man! Uhh.” KF quickly removed the hat

“So,” Robin hesitated “You guys Ok?” He asked looking between his two best friends as they walked towards him

They both looked at each other a moment sheepishly and ended up smiling “We still need to finish our talk” Vixen said

“But I think we’re good” Kid finished

  
“Look, I need to know” Robin called to Aqualad as he walked towards the ship “Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?”

Everyone walked over and looked at Aqualad expecting his answer

“The source of the team was Sportsmaster”

“What?” Artemis reacted “You can’t trust _him!_ ”

“I do not, it seemed possible, even likely that he was attempting to divide the team with false information” Aqualad cleared

“And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded, but you had to consider it might be true” At Robin’s enlightening words Vixen nudged Kid Flash with her elbow making him wince as he made a mocking gesture at her

“Yes, as leader I did. In which case I did not want to alert the traitor”

“Hate to say it but…makes sense.” Robin finished

“I am still prepared to step down”

“All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?” Kid asked, hand up

He was soon followed by the rest, Vixen sent Aqualad a warm smile.

“Guess it’s unanimous” Marvel placed his hand on Aqualad’s shoulder and shook his hand “See you tomorrow”

“You’re not coming back with us?” Aqualad asked

“Nope, gotta fly” And soon he was gone

“So, what are you gonna call him?”

“What’s wrong with wolf?”

“Generic, but acceptable”

As the rest talked entering the ship Vixen stayed behind for a moment with Kaldur

“See? They just needed a cold head to listen” She smiled at her friend who smiled back slightly.  
  
  


 

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**October 1, 18:16EDT**

“Hay!” The boy wonder yelled as he jumped up at Aqualad and the field presented a show of punctuations, for attacks, for dodging.

Zatara and Captain Marvel observed them by the sides, soon after a good display of efforts both teens ended at opposite sides of the field and relaxed, the field’s light dimming.

Just walking by were Connor, M’Gann and wolf, “You know they’re a couple, right?” Robin asked Aqualad discretely as they saw the aliens march away.

“I believe I knew before they did” Kaldur confirmed with a small smile.

Just as he said so a new pair of footsteps came from the opposite hallway, Vixen and Wally came from the hall and Robin looked at Kaldur, whispering before they reached them “Those two _still_ don’t know they’re a couple”

“Do you mean they don’t know of Connor and M’Gann? Or of themselves?” Kaldur’s smile was soft, in someone else it would have seemed more like a smirk

Finally, from the same hallway came Artemis “Do we tell her?” Robin asked Kaldur

“It is not our place” The older one stated

“So if Zatara is our babysitter of the week,” Wally started talking as they finally reached the rest “Why is he still here? And why is he eating my snacks?” He pointed at Captain Marvel

“Who cares?” Vixen waved at Marvel “He is pretty nice”

“RECOGNIZED, BATMAN, 0-2” The computer informed as the Zeta tubes filled with light

“Computer, national news” He quickly called as he made his way inside

On screen, Cat Grant was informing from a street in Metropolis, cartoon logic of course had her start just at the same time as the screen started transmitting in front of them “The initial attack was short-lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve” The screen changed to show them an helicopter view of the city in which a series of monstrous plants were wrecking havoc.

“Should we get out there?” Robin asked quickly in worry

“No, The League will soon have the situation under control, that’s not why I’m here” Batman explained, “According to your intel Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus’ blockbuster formula to Kobra”

“Who combined it with Bane’s venom to make Kobra venom” Wally informed, realizing what Batman was getting to

“Which the Brain used to create his animal army” Robin continued

“And upgrade Wolf” Connor intervened

“The Brain also used inhibitor collars, like the ones at Belle Reve penitentiary”

“Batman,” Artemis began “Is it possible that plant thingy’s on Kobra venom too?”

“I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis, divine cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra venom variant” The Leaguer typed on the computer to show them the stats

“These cannot be coincidences, unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide” Aqualad spoke as Robin began typing on a keyboard to show images on the screen

“Exactly” Batman answered “It’s now clear our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of Super-villains, the attack on Metropolis is only the beginning”

“You got that right” Robin called and images began being pulled up on the screen “Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham city, Paris, Star city, Taipei—“

Suddenly the image was covered by static “Dude” KF turned to Robin

“It’s not me, someone’s cutting into the satellite signal, ALL satellite signals.”

The static was replaced by The Joker himself staring straight with that huge creepy grin of his, he tapped on the camera’s glass “Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement, from the Injustice League” He turned away the camera towards his companions

Proudly on the creen stood Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Atomic skull, Wotan, Ultra-humanite and Black Adam.

The count spoke “We are responsible for the attacks on your cities, if you wish to save them a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required, delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit, but the longer your governments wait…”

“The more we get to have our…jollies” The Joker finished moving the camera back to himself then started laughing maniacally before the creen went back to pure static.

“Roger that Aquaman,” Batman spoke through his communicator “The UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback” Who made Bruce president? “But it won’t come to that”

The static was replaced by Robin to an image from the video a moments before, the boy wonder started naming the villains on screen “Count Vertigo, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra-humanite, Atomic skull, Black Adam, Wotan, SEVEN heavy hitters, probably behind nearly everything”

“But for obvious reasons they didn’t invite most of their friends” Vixen pulled up her own keyboard from screen and started pulling up images of the enemies they had fought already “Nor Kobra or Sportsmaster, which shouldn’t be such a surprise as they’re not as public, but I am pretty sure Lex Luthor must be helping them all, and playing an important role, he was behind Cadmus expenses _and_ projects, but this information got replaced in the database”

“So of course he is hiding to cover his tracks, doesn’t need any negative publicity, but are you suggesting other public figures are too?” Robin asked

“Exactly”

“There’s your secret society” KF turned to them

“Not so secret anymore” Mumbled Artemis

“Perhaps after India they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer” Aqualad stated

“Yeah? That was their mistake, right now I say we go kick some plant creature butt” Wally grinned

“The Justice League will handle the plants,” Batman assured “I have a different job for this team”

“Oh, man, uh!” Wally complained as he got a hit on his arm from Artemis

“With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously there must be a central control system, your mission is to destroy it”

“You realize what you’re really asking them to do.” Zatara spoke to the Bat

They’re ready”

“Ready?” Wally asked not understanding “Ready for what?” He got another hit from Artemis “Ow! Will you cut that—“

“Hello, Wally” She called mad at how slow he reasoned compared to how fast he was on his feet “If the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think we’ll be fighting?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll…” He was interrupted by Artemis pointing at the screen with the villains “Oh” He finally understood

“Oh” Vixen mocked him with a roll of her eyes

“Well, Batman, I trust you’re correct.” Zatara continued

“I trust _you_ can locate the enemy”

“Indeed, Wotan’s involvement suggests sorcery is part of how the plants are controlled, Robin, if you would provide the holo-map”

Robin quickly got to work and the man continued “I’ll search for signs of concentrated sorcerous activity” Right in front of the Holo-map Zatara extended his arms “ _Etacol retnecipe of yrecros_ , there” The map showed a red dot pointing to the south of the country “This is where you will find the Injustice league’s central control system”

“Coordinates locked in. The Louisiana Bayou” Robin informed

“We are on our way” Aqualad assured and the team rushed away

Marvel was about to follow but Batman stopped him.

«•••»

**BAYOU BARTHOLOMEW**   
**October 1, 18:52CDT**

“What’s in the duffle?” KF asked pointing behind Aqualad’s seat

“Plan B” He vaguely explained

“Ugh” M’Gann held her hand to her forehead in pain

“You alright?” Connor worried

“Dizzy.”

“Martians get airsick?” Robin asked unbelieving

“She does look a bit greener than usual” KF wondered

“Not me, her”

“I feel fine” Artemis assured quickly

“Not her, the Bio-ship, she’s trying to shield us, but”

Soon they were moving too fast and the Bio-ship lost it’s camouflage, a big hit sent them falling far away and everyone held to their seats; they hit the water but before being able to relax received plants holding onto their ship in an intent to pull them underwater, M’gann was in pain over Black Adam opening the ship from above by force.

“He’s hurting her” She called holding her head and Conner jumped to punch Black Adam far away from the ship

Vixen started pulling breathers out of her belt, she stopped herself from pulling a second one though when she heard Artemis speak.

“No. No way I’m nearly drowning three missions in a row” Artemis complained annoyed and pulling her own breather and offering Kid Flash another

“Wow. Uh, thanks” He smiled at her

Vixen shook her head quickly following Robin underwater, no time to dwell on silly stuff like Artemis and Wally, why had she even tried to pull a second breather for him anyway? She had gotten so used to some of his dialogue that was originally directed to Artemis being directed at her that she expected to actually cover things like that.

Once M’Gann opened a hatch Aqualad commanded them to get out of the ship and they swam away in what she was curious was really clear water on the bayou.

The ship was pulled into the water by the plants completely, “She’s in shock!” M’Gann informed “She’ll need time to recover”

Then an intense and sudden pain hit their heads and the all screamed before falling to the floor, “Vertigo!” Kid Flash said looking up at the man before them

“Count Vertigo to you, peasant”

Aqualad pulled out his water bearers and hit Vertigo giving everyone time to stand back up

 _“Robin, Vixen, disappear. We will keep them busy, you two fulfill the mission objective”_ Aqualad commanded through the link and the two vigilantes quickly disappeared into the forest.

«•••»

“I should have told him we needed Miss M with us” Vixen cursed to Robin in a whisper “They are all unconscious, the mind link is gone” She stated

“No time to dwell on that” Robin told her as he moved some foliage out of the way “The Injustice League central control system, looks like that plant is acting as an antenna, to control the other plants worldwide”

“Behind us” Vixen warned him pulling out her two-sectioned staff and the boy quickly turned around birdarang’s in hand

“Well, hello” Ivy greeted and plants started rising at them, Vixen hit one out of the way and jumped back before it could grab her, Robin quickly shot at the roots, birdarang’s exploding and Ivy groaned loudly at how her babies were getting hurt

«•••»

“Were are Robin and the Vixen?” Not long after Vertigo had asked that enraged, many bombs from both vigilantes started beeping from all around the huge antenna and then exploded.

“Timber.” Robin spoke from on top of the building were they both stood.

The furious red-headed woman screamed and summoned huge plants from the ground to attack them.

They joined the others on their fight and got the company of skull and Joker as they got out of the building.

“Kill them, kill them all” Vertigo ordered

Vixen quickly attacked Vertigo so he had no chance to use his powers but he turned them on her making her weak.

“Enough!” Wotan Screamed but received a bomb to his face, not before he made a shield though, soon a surge of power attacked Robin and Aqualad as Artemis tried to help Vixen escape Vertigo’s attack, Artemis threw the man at the floor effectively stopping it but both girls still got attacked by Wotan right after.

Everyone was under Wotan’s rays until Aqualad called for M’gann “Plan B”

Soon, the bioship threw the duffel bag to the floor for Aqualad to take the helmet of fate out, as Wotan realized this his attack stopped.

Soon Kid Flash realized what aqualad was doing and panicked “No, Aqualad! Don’t!” But his decision was taken and KF had been punched and thrown against a tree, Vixen hurried to him in worry, quickly.

The helmet was on and Doctor Fate took Aqualad’s place.

“Oh, dude” Kid had mumbled as he stood up with Vixen’s help

She pulled on her own cape, ripping it apart to support his arm, his eyes widened

“Why are you—“ Soon he realized she was immobilizing his broken arm as much as possible

“Go help M’Gann, stop Vertigo” She told him before being tossed away by Black Adam

“Vixen!” He yelled but soon saw M’Gann getting attacked by Vertigo and rushed to him.

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**October 1, 20:35EDT**

“Are you going to keep complaining to Marvel?” Vixen asked her friend while rolling her eyes “Your arm will be fine soon, you can get your chips yourself”

“So why are you bringing me coffee?” Wally smirked at her

“I am too used to getting two mugs now” She mumbled “I can give yours to someone else though” She turned her head up as if indignantly before turning away to hide her smirk.

“Vixie!” The boy complained dragging her nickname

“Stop being so lazy” She chuckled handing him the mug anyway.

“Hey, if Captain Marvel wants to help me out with my horribly hurt arm after I fought valiantly against the Injustice league, who am I to tell him no?”

“An unbelievable prick” She grinned.


	13. Humanity-17, Failsafe-18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vixen is elated by seeing Zatanna and Robin interact, the teasing for the boy wonder will know no end.
> 
> But as she faces the challenge of the mental training Martian Manhunter had planned for them it turns out she wasn't as ready as she thought.

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**OCTOBER 10, 16:58EDT**

“Pineapple juice?” Vixen rolled her eyes at the voice of Captain Marvel as he served to Wally’s every whim while she stepped out of the way from one of Superboy’s punches

“Ah, just what the doctor ordered” Wally smiled after sipping the drink

“How’s the arm doing Wally?” Marvel asked and she felt the need to answer for him, trying to not disperse her attention too much from Superboy

“His arm is just fine! Wally’s just a crybaby Captain” She grinned and Superboy smiled at her before throwing a kick she lost balance to. She fell to the floor.

“Well,” Wally sneered as she fell before turning back to Marvel “Nothing wrong nachos can’t cure”

“Nachos,” The captain asked out loud before smiling “Oh! I’ll go get you some!”

“Good work everyone” Canary’s voice called “In fact it’s been a very productive week”

Everyone stopped and Artemis grinned “Yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer”

“Hey! Arm broken in combat against the Injustice League here” He pointed out quick

“Aren’t you supposed to have like, super fast healing?” Vixen mumbled curiously, cartoon logic?

Canary chuckled “I’ve really enjoyed being your uh, Den-mother this week”

“RECOGNIZED, ZATARA, 1-1” As the man entered the room he started fiddling with the keyboard “ACCESS GRANTED, ZATANNA, ZATARA, A-0-3, AUTHORIZATION, ZATARA, 1-1”

The young girl walked into the room looking around curiously, a cautious look as his father introduced “Zatanna, this is the team, team, my daughter, Zatanna”

“Hi! I’m—“

“Robin!” The boy had immediately appeared in front of Zatanna interrupting M’Gann and then cleared his throat “I mean, _I’m_ Robin, heh, she’s M’Gann, and that’s Wally, Vixen, Artemis, Kaldur, and Connor” He introduced everyone who in exchange greeted Zatanna with their respective smiles.

“Welcome to the cave” Kaldur greeted

“Thanks” She greeted still a little shy but with a soft smile

“The boy wonder can’t help himself in front of the beautiful girl” Vixen whispered to Wally with a sweet grin and the boy snorted with his own

“So, uh,” Robin tried “Y-yo-u are you joining the team?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves” Zatara interrupted “This is strictly a visit, but I am sorry we missed the training, it’s something from which Zatanna could benefit”

 _“Do the rest of you get the impression we’re still on probation with Zatara?”_ Megan asked through the mind link

 _“Not just Zatara, I mean, why is Marvel still hanging around?”_ Connor asked

 _“Because we like having him around”_ Wally defended with a smile

 _“You like having him around ‘cause he waits on you hand and foot”_ Artemis stated

_“And your point is?”_

_“I don’t mind having Marvel around, he seems to want to hang out with us much more than to actually take care of us like children, unlike the rest of The League, Marvel is less serious”_ Vixen tried to clear

 _“It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado’s tenure as our supervisor”_ Kaldur crossed his arms

_“Yeah, at least he trusted us”_

_“If you ignore the fact we shouldn’t have trusted him!”_ Connor answered angry _“He was a traitor, that machine nearly got all of us killed!”_

_“I’m pretty sure he was a victim of the circumsta—“_

“Are you guys having a psychic conversation?” Zatanna interrupted Vixen’s thoughts through the link “‘Cause I can’t decide if that’s cool or really rude” She finished bothered

«•••»

“Isn’t Robin being absolutely adorable?” Vixen whispered to Wally who sat behind her on the ship as the boy wonder tried talking to Zatanna and she had told him he could be as _chalant_ as he'd like, that was the sweetest thing ever “It’s like they speak the same language”

“I’m never going to let this go, he won’t escape the teasing” Wally told her grinning wide and she chuckled

“Neither of us, he is pinning so hard, but that’s really flattering, I’d love it if a boy acted like that for me” She looked at both 13 years old happily, not noticing as Wally looked at her in pure disbelief

“You’ll be the end of me” He murmured low enough for the girl in front of him to not catch it.

«•••»  
  
  


**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**October 16, 16:01EDT**

“Tornado, did you…”

“Yes, Zatara, we saw” If the scene the had just been witnesses to hadn’t been just a training exercise…Well, it would have been an horrible thing “Celestial defenses have failed, initiate all terrestrial measures”

“Affirmative. See you in the field.”

The whole illusion was so vivid that if Vixen hadn’t known any better she would have thought she had actually been in one for the past five months. She only had to remain sane for this, remember what she knew of the illusion.

Easy.

“I must join The League, we will protect the planet at all costs, but should we fail, the responsibility falls to you.”

“We stand ready” Aqualad firmly stated.

«•••»

“This is Iris West-Allen reporting live” _Oh no_ “The extraterrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central city” An explosion made the woman gasp and as she turned a couple of pedestrians were zapped by the aliens.

Even if this wasn’t real, it was terrible to imagine, Batman being gone and now Iris, to think that this one day could be reality. Of course, she should worry more about her mentor, but Iris had been really sweet and kind to her, and she was absolutely essential to Wally.

So while this was all fake, it was still a scenery she hoped they would never actually have to see.

Iris was soon gone from the screen, pulled away from the danger by Flash, the reporter appeared in front of her again on the top of a building “You should both be safe here, at least for now” Zatara told them both

“Thank you, _Flash_ and Zatara”

But it wasn’t over, soon after the heroes left the building they were attacked and zapped too, after a bare seconds of grief Iris was too.

All Leaguers were soon reported dead or missing.

“We are Earth’s heroes now” Aqualad stated

“So what are we waiting for? A theme song?” Superboy asked, despite the seriousness they had to take the training with Vixen allowed herself a smile.

“A strategy, Earth’s weapons are ineffective and it has been made tragically clear a direct attack will not succeed”

“Checking satellite imagery” Robin called and the holographic globe appeared in front of them with marked red spots covering too much “Here’s where the aliens are now”

“This one get lost?” Superboy asked while pointing to a spot far north on the map

“That’s Superman’s fortress of solitude!” Robin explained

“Superman has a fortress of solitude?”

“It’s power source must have attracted the aliens attention, at least enough to send a scout ship to investigate”

“Must be some fortress”

“What are you doing?” Kid Flash asked Vixen as she stared vacantly at the map

“We will target this lone ship” Vixen said at exactly the same time as Aqualad receiving a few awkward glances she just ignored

“Yeah,” Kid Flash agreed “break it down, build more, hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo, ow!” The boy complained as Artemis hit him

“Martian and Kryptonian in the house” She mumbled at him and they looked at their alien friends

“Uh, heh. Not that all aliens are automatically ugly” He tried

“Smooth” Vixen smirked in front of him

«•••»

 _“Communications disabled”_ M’Gann affirmed through the link _“Propulsion disabled”_ And the ship fell to the ground

Artemis shot at the ship which then responded by randomly shooting _“And E.T.’s are sealed inside.”_

Aqualad jumped high up to hit from underwater and then up at the ship while Wolf and Superboy rushed in to stop the cannon from hitting anyone. Vixen, K.F. and Robin joined a moment later, the girl pulling out a small laser from her utility belt. Right as Superboy pulled up the weapon from the ship a pair of connections fell, ready to attack him but she separated them with the beam before it happened.

Wolf was fine at least.

As the weapon was completely separated from the ship Vixen started humming around the cables and examining them with her wrist computer, trying to find something but she couldn’t remember what.

 _“Vixen!”_ Robin called as he was making his way to the bioship and she remembered, instead of moving she connected the pair of beams that had been almost about to hit superboy before and then reached quickly inside of the ship, tiring out wires and screens before reaching a set of inner controls and electronics. she teared them out and started running towards the bio-ship.

The alien’s help had reached them and she tried to connect the beams as soon as possible while running.

 _“Miss Martian. Open fire!”_ Aqualad commanded

_“Can’t, weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon, and that’s not fully integrated yet either!”_

_“I’ve got this”_ Vixen strongly affirmed as she finally managed to make the beam work and settle it on her arm before Artemis could try and rush to action.

The fox started shooting at the ships with a much smaller version of their cannon _“Get inside!”_ She ordered while shooting to the ships, one fell to the ground.

But just as it did Artemis tried to block the cannon with one of her arrows and vixen panicked watching the archer reach out for her _“Artemis, don’t!”_

But regardless of how she had tried, Artemis was gone.

She heard the loud scream of M’Gann out of her mind and clutched tightly onto her head, a huge pain overcoming her, but she couldn’t lose herself in M’Gann’s pain, she couldn’t let it happen.

Her knees buckled while the others yelled for their lost companion and the pain got heavier. Vixen was about to fall to the floor as she fought the overbearing feelings, keep her mind set; a pair of arms held onto her and she was inside the bioship just moments after.

“Vixen, breathe” KF called, his voice was pleading and also bitter but not at her, she tried, she tried but hyperventilated, right as everyone else entered the ship and they were far away she started glaring at the ground.

Kid Flash pulled her into a chair but she held tight onto her head still, what was she trying to do? The pain of her headache was subsiding but only to be replaced by a different one. Her eyes were burning. “She’s _gone_ ” She whispered as a shiver traveled through her spine and her hands balled up in fists.

Kid didn’t say anything, he just held tighter onto her arm which still had the beam she had managed to arrange tightened around it, but it only felt heavy as he glared furiously at the ground.

There was an empty seat in the bishop and as hard as she tried, Vixen couldn’t remember what would happen next, she took Wally’s hand and held on tight, only imagining in how much pain he would be after losing Artemis, she squeezed, for his comfort and her own.

The silence was heavy, M’Gann was tearing up, sobbing softly on her seat and Vixen took the courage to look at Kid Flash, as he felt her sight on him he stopped furiously glaring at the floor to look at her.

She had trouble forming the words, opening her mouth to speak, but she managed to whisper “I can’t remember what happens next” She spoke in a broken voice and the boy’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing and reaching out for her with his other arm.

“It’s Ok, we’ll figure this out,” He stated determinedly “It is _not_ your fault” He stressed as he could feel what she was thinking.

“There will be time to mourn later, Now we have a job to do, defend the Earth” Aqualad firmly called “And ensure Artemis’ sacrifice was not in vain”

“Back to the cave?” M’Gann asked

“The Hall of Justice, the human race needs to know there’s still heroes defending them”

«•••»

“Now we are the Justice League,” Victoria spoke while glaring at the remains of the statue which had represented her own mentor “Not the terms in which I wanted this to happen”

“They’re really gone” Robin said, a sense of just realizing what had happened exactly, both bat protégés remained close for reassurance

M’gann neared her uncle’s statue and started crying on top of it before twitching, she swiftly rose and pulled the statue away, her uncle lying before them on the floor.

“Uncle J’onn!” She rushed to him in joy

Aqualad stopped her before she could hug the Martian _“M’Gann, check his mind”_ the young Atlantean ordered _“Make sure he is whom he appears to be”_

 _“It’s him. He’s real and he’s alive”_ She happily confirmed

Vixen and Robin looked at each other, doubtful regardless “But we saw you get disintegrated, you and Superman. And everyone” Superboy claimed

“Yes, I remember” The martian stated as M’gann helped him stand up “But…I cannot remember how I survived, or how I arrived here”

“Maybe you were density shifting, the beam passed right through you” M’gann justified

“Scrambling your brains along the way!” Robin said excitedly and Vixen relaxed a little

“My mind _is_ clouded” The man held his head “I feel certain I had something important to tell you”

 _“Hello, Wally, come on”_ The red-head hit his head with the palm of his hand and a smile grew on him as he made Vixen and Robin follow him

 _“I knew it! Look.”_ He pointed at the weapon on Vixen’s hands and the cannon on the Bioship, Robin begun his examination _“It’s giving off Zanopenes, the same stuff that powers our zeta tubes, this thing doesn’t disintegrate”_ He grinned at his best friends, _“it teleports! Artemis is alive”_

Vixen started smiling at him but then frowned as she looked down at her weapon, having connected it herself it didn’t feel like the technology that was usually needed for a zeta tube, but…perhaps the aliens managed to concentrate the energy in a different manner?

_“Maybe, but—“_

Robin was interrupted by the happy Kid Flash _“Not maybes. They’re all alive.”_

Vixen decided to speak up _“But when I integrated this weapon earlier the epicenter of—“_

Alien ships following them had Vixen stop her argument so the three of them could cover.

 _“We’re on our way”_ Aqualad told them

 _“Negative”_ Robin stated _“We can’t win this, Miss Martian, cameo the Bioship”_

Before the girl could do anything the bishop was shot at and disappeared in thin air sending great pain through the martians.

Vixen pulled her wrist computer and began examining the place in which the ship had stood, but it was gone _“The Zanopene radiation sent different waves, our tubes are designed to disperse the energy so it can trespass barriers, this energy is concentrated but remained in the air, it didn’t disperse”_ Her eyes widened at the realization as did those of the boys beside her.

 _“We’re falling back!”_ Robin called and the three rushed into the Hall

«•••»

The last thing she saw at the Hall was Aqualad pushing her through the tube so she’d live, so she waited for her friend, but was heartbroken when Robin took her away from the tube, Martian Manhunter went through, but Aqualad didn’t

“Our next mission is clear, if we believe the aliens have been teleporting their victims—“ Robin was interrupted

“We don’t” Vixen spoke up seriously as she pulled up images of the Ships and their leftover energy “But they might still have been captured, if it uses Zetapenes they might have divided the energy to enter their own ships, so eventually the people captured might be a little lost in regards of if they have a complete presence, but they could be alive”

KF’s frown had turned thoughtful and Robin continued “Then the only reasonable detention facility is here” The holographic panel showed up infant of them “Their mothership, atop what used to be Smallville”

This started sounding like it would become a post-apocalyptic dystopia.

“Ring any bells?” Robin asked the only original Leaguer left

“No, i’m sorry”

“Superboy,” Robin continued immediately “You’ll create a distraction”

“No!” M’gann firmly denied “He’s offering you as a sacrifice” She told her boyfriend “Aqualad would never do that”

“You’re right, Aqualad would sacrifice himself, a mistake that just cost us our leader”

“If we’re being logical, the only one who could survive a distraction from the beams outside would be Superboy along with wolf” Vixen explained

M’gann thought hard about it “But Kid Flash could also evade them more easily”

“Kid Flash will be needed to get us inside” Robin finished “And Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy

«•••»

Vixen observed the mothership alongside Robin, adjusting her much heavier than usual utility belts, full with bombs.

It was hard getting used to the fact that she no longer had any idea what would happen next, if they would make it out alive, it was foreign and made the situation harder to endure. But she was firm, she had trained with Batman, she had to complete the mission, no matter the cost.

It was awkward, she felt like a soldier thinking that way, she didn’t usually like it, people who follow the rules are those who throw bombs down at countries and massacre villages. She never wanted to follow just because she had to. But it felt that way, even if she was sure she was fighting for the good of millions.

 _“First team, deploy”_ Robin commanded, M’gann and Martian manhunter soon disappeared, camouflaged and far towards the ship

 _“Ready, in position”_ M’gann’s voice echoed inside her head

Robin looked at superboy who had smiled slightly and nodded, quickly the boy went to do his job

 _“Careful, don’t disconnect the power source”_ Robin told Superboy who started yelling at the aliens for attention

“Are you sure you can carry us both?” Robin asked KF who nodded

“Vixen suggested it for a reason, if I grab you both while I’m running with a head-start the problem will only be the landing, I could carry 400 pounds” The boy explained but Robin lifted an eyebrow at his last explanation “She told me” KF pointed at the girl

“There’s our opening, KF, get your head-start” Vixen commanded as she stared at Superboy

 _“Now or never”_ Superboy told them and soon they were all flying through the air being pulled by Kid Flash, no much later they hit the ground with a thud but just as quickly they were on their feet running inside

The three hid as three smaller ships went flying past them

 _“Way’s clear, go!”_ Robin said

They reunited with the Martians along the way and continued.

Suddenly M’gann stopped on her tracks _“No, he’s gone”_ She said, her voice pained as she almost fell to the floor, the three others rushed back to her

The scene was familiar to Vixen, too familiar, and the pain too, Vixen’s eyes widened as she realized what she was missing. She knew what would happen next, the ship would explode with everyone but M’gann inside, and then there would be no chance to save the world at all.  
  
“I remember” She mumbled and Robin looked at her urgently and questioningly, she growled “Miss Martian, Martian Manhunter, I need you to clear a path for me, Kid, Robin, you need to get out of here _now_ ” She barked firmly

“What?” A collective question from both boys and a concerned look from the martian girl

“No time to explain! You need to trust me, I need you out _immediately_ ”

“We’re _not_ leaving you here, we will all free the captive—“

“They are _gone_ KF, there’s no prisoners to rescue” She yelled sadly and Robin backed her

“I’ve been scanning for League and team signals since we got inside, they’re not here” The boy wonder cleared

KF looked at Vixen with panic now, if she was hit here, then

 _“Run, Wally”_ She said feeling his worry and motioned for the martians to follow her, running deeper into the mothership

Both of them left the ship as fast as possible and Vixen entered the power core, she was lifted onto it by the martians and set up the bombs from her belts into it, as soon as she was finished she was lifted away from the core and they rushed to the doors.

KF was restless outside of the ship, he saw as the Martian and M’gann left the ship and looked around for a signal of the other girl.

The mothership exploded and he paled.

“No” He breathlessly exclaimed “No, tell me she left!” She looked at the Martians desperately “Tell me she got out in time!”

But as M’Gann denied in tears and Robin lifted his eyes from the screen on his wrist with an almost invisible tremble to his lips, the speedster broke down.

He had no time to mourn, soon another mothership appeared in front of their eyes, they all panicked, before anything, ships were sent at them and Robin was zapped, KF broke away into a run but he wasn’t fast enough.

«•••»

Vixen gasped, taking in air as if she had been underwater as her eyes finally opened for real; she sat up with a terrible headache, looking around her, at everyone, they were alive, she was alive, and she wanted to cry.

“You’re all alive!” She heard M’gann exclaim

“What happened in there?” Batman was asking Manhunter

“The exercise, it all went wrong” The alien explained

“Exercise?” Robin asked

“Try to remember” The low voice of the bat pushed “What you experienced was a training exercise, Manhunter psychically linked the six of you within an artificial reality, you all knew this going in, what you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise, no matter what the team accomplished the scenario was designed to grow worse, still, you were aware nothing was real, including the deaths of the entire justice league”

“That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes, but all that changed when Artemis died” Manhunter continued “Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real her subconscious mind could not make that distinction, she forgot it was only an exercise, and her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too”

Vixen felt embarrassed as she started remembering everything, she thought she could fight it, remain sane because she actually knew the outcome, she thought she would overcome it, but ended up failing and getting stuck on the training, falling into M’gann’s subconscious act even when she had been warned

“I-I'm...I'm so sorry” The green skinned girl apologized profusely

“This isn't her fault” Superboy defended “Why didn't you stop the exercise?”

“We tried, but M’gann had a death grip on the scenario,” Manhunter told them “Even Artemis who should have awakened upon her death was so convinced she had passed she slipped into a coma, I realized I would have to rest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within, but upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion, there was too much noise to think clearly, to remember why I was there

“The deaths of Aqualad, Superboy and Vixen helped, but only when the second mothership appeared and Robin and Kid Flash were silenced did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose, to shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent,” Manhunter looked really tired “My apologies, I had no idea a training exercise could be do dangerous, so damaging” He finished and stumbled almost falling, Batman and Red Tornado held him in place.

As bad as all that?” Batman asked

“Perhaps worse” Manhunter admitted

“Yet this is not what troubles you” Tornado chimed

“Make no mistake, my niece is untrained and cannot be held responsible for this...for our debacle”

“No one blames her” The bat reassured “But clearly we underestimated her abilities”

“You understated, in terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind I have ever encountered, stronger by far than mine”

The team was in silence, Vixen felt Wally’s eyes on her but she couldn’t look up at him, she felt like she had failed them, and if she had done so during training, who was she expecting to save?


	14. Disordered-19, Secrets-20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vixen hadn't originally planned on reaching the point of needing therapy with Canary. But suddenly the lives at risk she could fail to save are much heavier on her mind.
> 
> Once that pasess though she has to deal with other emotional turbulences, and Wally hears it all.

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**October 23, 17:21EDT**

Dick and Victoria sat side by side in the living room, resting against each other in their seek for comfort, everyone seemed too busy with their own thoughts and they sought reassurance on each other’s presence through the silence.

They didn’t feel like admitting it out loud, but the night before and for the past week they had been turning on the TV with the excuse of having long movie marathon’s in Dick’s room only to spend the time with each other.

She didn’t even remember most of the movies she supposedly watched, she only remembered holding Dick's hand and lying against him or even playing with his hair until finally their distracted minds sent them to sleep for a while.

Vixen heard as Superboy stomped out of the room he had been with Canary in, but she couldn’t find it in herself to follow him, he needed to cool off, and she couldn’t trust her words at the moment.

Artemis was called into the room. The clock ticked, the silence was suffocating.

Vixen looked up at Wally who laid his head on his arms on the kitchen counter; he must have suffered so much when Artemis died and yet instead of having the chance to mourn Artemis he had to calm her down from her “panic attack” right after.

Kaldur was called into the room.

«•••»

“I was the general, but behaved like a soldier and sacrificed myself, I am not fit for command and must resign as team leader” Kaldur lamented

“Who do you recommend to take your place?” 

Canary's words placed him in trouble “Artemis is too raw and untrusting, Kid Flash too raw and impulsive, Miss Martian remains too eager to please, Superboy carries too much anger, Vixen already tries to carry the world on her shoulders”

“Making Robin the logical choice”

“But he is so young” Kaldur disapproved worried

“Kaldur, you're all young”

“I cannot shift this burden to him, not yet” he sighed “It appears I must withdraw my resignation”

«•••»

“So” Canary began “You want me to believe that after everything you went through, including your own death from mortal beams, you're peachy?”

“I'm uh, fairly certain I never used the word peachy” he continued eating popcorn “But I think you got the gist”

“So you really have no interest in confronting your extreme reaction to Vixen's death?” The boy choked on his popcorn shifting his position on the love-seat until he was straight and looked at Canary with a worried smile 

“I'd rather talk about you babe” He babbled

“Wally, you're in denial” 

“I am comfortable with that” he said leaning back

«•••»

“Hurting? Try traumatized” Robin looked down “I finally become leader and wind up sending all of my friends to their deaths, and I _know_ I did what I had to, but I hated it, when we started this team I was desperate to be in charge. Not anymore”

The boy wonder took a second before continuing “An-and that's not even the worst of it” His head went down “You can't tell Batman”

“Nothing leaves this room” Canary affirmed

“I always wanted, expected, to grow up and become him, and the hero bit? I’m still all in, but that thing? Inside of him, the _thing_ that drives him to sacrifice everything for the sake of his mission, that's not me, I-I don't want to be  The Batman, anymore.”

«•••»

“I thought I could deal with it, that since I knew how things would end I could prevent the chaos, remind them it was an exercise; but I failed, I wasn’t able to control it and take the right decision, I succumbed to the pain, at least the last of my team was safe for a bit but” Vixen paused “I didn’t want anyone to know that I know about the future, to protect them, but now I don't want them to know for a different reason, because I feel pressured and scared that I might not be able to avoid the disasters I meant to

“I was so determined to fix anything that might go wrong, but now everything keeps changing and throwing me off balance, what if I can't stop it? What if I am doomed to see things coming and still fail to avoid them?”

“You cannot take the weight of any problem on our timeline as something you could have avoided because you can't, you need to live for yourself” Canary worriedly tried to reassure

“I am trying, but what if he, i-if I” Vixen choked on her words 

“If anything goes wrong, it is not your fault, some things are just not meant to be changed and taking sole responsibility of some mistake we might have already been destined to commit is not something you—”

“What if I can't save him?” Vixen's voice wasn't more than a strangled whisper.

«•••»

 **MOUNT JUSTICE  
October 31, 19:40EDT  
**   
“Cool costume” Vixen grinned up at Wally who grinned back at her, showing his fake fangs.

“Thanks, where’s yours?”

Vixen’s grin turned into a frown “Batman told me he needed to talk to me, so I can’t join you guys at the party”

“What?” The boy asked with his eyes going wide, “No way, you’ve been going on all month about how much you like Halloween and singing _‘This is halloween’_ on repeat” the boy complained loudly.

She gave him a sheepish smile “You can’t just say no to the Bat though, it’s alright, I’ll do my best to get out of his grip afterwards and I might join you guys for a little bit then” She finished and walked over to the hall waving the boy goodbye.

He waved until she had disappeared behind a pair of doors with Red Arrow and Robin in tow, then he sighed.

He had been thinking too much about her, not that he didn’t already, she was always on his mind, it kept getting worse after every mission and even worse during what had become a common ritual for them both.

Those times in which they’d sit down in the kitchen with warm mugs in their hands and laughing about anything or having really serious conversations, they came by easy somehow. There were times after a mission in which they’d get to the room and one would be ready with a first-aid kit to help the other.

 _“I swear, Wallace, if you downplay the gash on your leg I’ll knock you out to bandage it, if I was Marvel you’d already be asking me to baby you”_ He remembered her saying one time, but sometimes it was much sweeter, undertones of worry on her light voice as her eyes swirled with emotions while she helped him with any injuries

They may call each other best friends all the time, but he knew that wasn’t everything there was to them, they had something going on, something unspoken that relied on gentle gazes, big smiles and caring words.

She knew everything about him, his life before meeting, how much he cared for his aunt and uncle, his life at school, his insecurities, his defects, she even knew about every mistake he would make in the future and yet she stood by his side with a proud smile.

He had learned everything about her life before getting here, every single detail, every person in her life, those she missed, those she didn’t; her hardest moments, her brightest, her dreams. Maybe he couldn’t read her life in comic book form, but he’d take everything he could.

He had to do something about it soon, so he had really hoped he could get her to dance with him at M’Gann’s school Halloween party, but he guessed that’d be out of the way if Batman got her for too long.

«•••»

“Computer, secure the room” Batman commanded once inside

“SECURED”

“I’ll cut to it” He continued and stared pointedly at Vixen “Do we believe there is a mole within the team?”

“I’m convinced there is none,” Aqualad was quick to answer “When Sportsmaster claimed he had an inside source he was merely showing dissent”

“His intel could easily have come by comparing notes with the other villains working for the Injustice League,” Robin smiled “And think about it, if anyone on this team was working with those creepoids—“

“He or she would have betrayed us during our fight against them” Aqualad finished for him

“I’m not convinced” Red spoke “Sure, you three and Kid Flash are above suspicion, but I know Artemis isn’t shooting straight, for starters she is not Green Arrow’s niece”

“What?” Aqualad asked surprised

“Well yeah, in fact, she’s related to—“

Robin was interrupted by Batman before saying much “Enough, Artemis’s relations may indeed make her suspect, but she’s still entitled to a secret identity”

“You might be missing some information Red, but there’s reason people keep stuff hidden and it doesn’t necessarily mean they have bad intentions, if it was like that then Robin, Batman and me would be prime suspects” Vixen explained “There is no mole within the team” She expressed firmly.

And it was no lie, after all, Red Arrow wasn’t a part of the team.

“I’m more concerned over Superboy” Batman kept talking despite her reassurance because he knew sometimes she’ll keep things for him to figure out himself “We still know very little about what Cadmus programmed into their weapon, Connor could be the mole and not know it”

He wasn’t wrong, Vixen thought as she gazed at Red Arrow.

“And what about Miss Martian?” The archer spoke once more “She is Manhunter’s niece, but he told Black Canary he has a few hundred nieces and nephews, and the first time he met M’gann was five months ago, when she stowed away on his last trip from Mars to Earth”

“Despite how questionable that sounds for us humans,” Vixen quipped “Miss M has indeed been on Earth for too little a time to have had contact with anyone else, besides, her trip was always in direct contact with her uncle, who was the only way she ever got to know anything about Earth”

Robin agreed “She couldn’t have had contact with anyone apart from The League and team before she joined school and the peace treaty happened at the same time as she had her first day of school, other moments were in complete supervision of the team”

“I have fought side by side with these people” Aqualad defended “None are traitors”

«•••»

At the end, Vixen had a talk with Batman and Robin alone; time for the truth.

She told both of them about Red Arrow being a clone and not knowing it, she told them about how he had been programmed to betray them, but M’gann could stop it, she told them about the real Roy in CADMUS, and that she wanted to be the one to get him out of there.

It was a long, long talk. But she thought she had made her points and worries clear without altering it too much. Batman wouldn’t talk about this and he would let things happen as should, but he would make sure no Starotech virus would get into the Watchtower or Red Arrow's hands.

The rest would happen in time.

As they finished Vixen thought it would be too late to join the others at the party. So Robin and her sat at the kitchen to wait for the others.

They had been trying to keep the conversation light, nothing about Red Arrow or what would have happened to the league, just two teens hanging out.

“Alright, I warned you that I wouldn’t be letting this go and it has already been a good while since I mentioned it last” Robin said looking at her as if he couldn’t hold something any longer, and he probably couldn’t.

She lifted an eyebrow curiously “What are you talking about?”

Just at that moment Wally had reached the cave from the back, he came to see if the reunion was finished, so the computer announced his arrival far from where the other teens could hear it.

He stopped on his tracks as he heard Robin from around the corner.

“I’m talking about _Wally_ ” The boy wonder’s pupils searching for her reaction from behind his cowl “It’s so obvious, I mean yeah, Wally can be a bit of a flirt but really, he doesn’t say half the things he tells you to anyone else”

“Oh please, that’s just Wally, calling girls things and being a straight up flirt, if it wasn’t me it’d be M’gann” She rolled her eyes trying to dissipate the conversation.

Wally winced.

“No, it’s different! He thought M’gann was pretty, but with you he is constantly trying to know you better and be there you know?” Robin told her with a smile “You aren’t just a girl he flirts with, you are close friends and he is head over heels for you”

“Yes, we’re close, but that’s just it, he flirts because it’s normal for him and cares because he is my best friend, it doesn’t me—“

“Oh come on Vix!” Robin hit his palms against the table with wide frustrated eyes “You’re not dumb, you know he likes you!”

“He doesn—“

“And for god’s sake, you clearly like him too!” He whisper yelled at her “I see you all the time! Heck, he might be blind but _I’m not_ , everyone notices how you care, so just get together already”

Wally felt like he was having an out of body experience, he was lightheaded but a grin was spreading around his face as he realized what Robin had said.

But Vixen looked like she had received a slap on her face.

“Of course I care, just like I care about you”

“It’s a different feeling—“

Vixen stood up interrupting the boy with a serious glare “Wally and I _can’t_ be together Rob!” She affirmed firmly and the boy’s eyes went wide as he stared at her shocked “There will _never_ be any sort of romantic relationship between Wally and me” She had snapped

The boy wonder looked confused at her as she started walking out of the kitchen, he followed his sister from a bit of a distance, waiting for her to cool down.

Wally was gone though. He ran so fast he had to slow down around the beach before he found himself on top of Mount Justice.

He simply stared towards the dark horizon, taking quick breaths until he reached up to hold his head with his hands. He wanted to tear his hair out, he wanted to throw up. How could he have been so wrong?

But instead of doing either he fell to the ground, holding his legs against his body as he glared, heartbroken and with his eyes burning and getting his clothes wet.

«•••»

Once at the manor Victoria hadn’t greeted Alfred or Bruce who had seemed like he wanted to have a fatherly chat with her after a text from the boy wonder.

She ignored them completely and closed the door to her room behind her with a loud thump, the three males stood outside looking between each other with different versions of a worried expression.

Once inside her room she threw her cowl off her face, eyes burning as they swirled, red and golden. She tossed her utility belt to the floor and her boots were soon across her bed and on the floor.

She removed most of her suit and started slowing down, feeling too heavy to throw anything else, her eyes were now a deep blue with hints of grey. she stumbled over to her bed, falling on it and covering herself under the covers without a care to remove the rest of her clothes.

She sobbed. Because her words were true.

By this point Wally was falling in love with Artemis, they’d be so happy; he doesn’t care about her like he does Artemis.

She wasn’t made for him, she wasn’t meant to meet him.

She had never even been a choice.


	15. Misplaced-21, Coldhearted-22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wally has been avoiding her since Halloween and Victoria is worried, it has to be her fault after all. But why is her best friend so set on avoiding any contact with her? By this point if he was mad he would have said something, right?

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**November 5, 20:32 EDT**

While every adult on Earth had disappeared, Zatanna, Robin and Vixen kept investigating at the cave.

Well, Vixen was looking up for every place in which the others were saving children, making sure by any means there would be no kid left alone and searching for any call of help in social media or police messages left.

“ _We’ve set up a refugee center at the High school gym, any luck with—_ “ Kid Flash spoke from his com but was interrupted

“No, can’t raise the Batcave, the Hall of justice or the watch— or any adult hero, even Red Arrow” Robin explained

“ _Guess we’re on our own,_ ” Kid spoke getting ready to leave

“If there’s no one there already, I could go re—“ Vixen tried to speak

“ _Kid Flash out._ ” The boy had finished quickly instead of letting her finish, she glared sadly at the screen.

“I don’t know what’s the matter with him, but he has to talk to me eventually, not every message of mine can go through you Rob” The girl closed a couple of screens and the boy wonder saw her walk away worriedly.

“Where are you going?” Zatanna asked

“Well, before I was cut off by Kid Flash here I was going to say I’d join them, they need every help they can get to find those children” Vixen smiled at them both

«•••»

Victoria was holding the hands of two little girls as she walked them to the gym in which they were trying to reunite all the kids of Happy Harbour.

She was just in time to see a bunch of kids laughing at Artemis for mixing up songs.

“Miss?” The blonde girl looking up at her and pulling on her hand was asking for her attention and Victoria smiled softly at her “Are you sure our parents will be back soon?”

The little girl’s words moved her heart, the other little girl's hand clutched onto Victoria's tighter at those words and she kneeled down to see them both eye to eye with a grin.

“Don’t worry, they will, you will all be reunited later today, alright? They are _safe_ , I promise”

Her reassuring words calmed the girls down a little bit and she walked them to join the other kids their age.

“Did you call home?” Victoria heard Artemis ask Wally

“No answer” Her heart broke a little at his response regardless of how mad she was at the ginger

“You could zeta there” Artemis continued

“I’ve been collecting kids all day, I don’t need to see another empty house.” The red head looked down.

The doors bursted open again and Superboy looked troubled at them with three kids holding onto him “Got three more”

After letting those kids down Victoria walked up to Wally “I need you to take me to the borders of the suburbs” She told him leaving no space to argue

The boy just nodded at her and they walked out of the gym.

A couple of moments later she felt the wind on her face as she was carried far away and into the suburbs corners. Wally was letting her down when she held tightly onto him, he tensed.

“What did I do Walls?” She asked him, her eyes searching sadly for his “You haven’t been able to look me in the eyes since Halloween”

He knew he wasn’t fooling anyone and just sighed finally setting her down “Is there actually any kid here?”

“Back garden,” She quickly called looking back at her wrist computer, thank social media and the pictures she saw online of two kids walking home alone, she was pretty sure they hadn't managed to get inside. The ginger disappeared for a moment before appearing back in front of her with two kids on his arms looking curiously at them with tears in their eyes.

Victoria smiled “Hey boys, don’t worry, we’re getting you to were the rest of the kids are at, until your parents come back”

«•••»

After letting those kids and a couple of others it was time to go back to Mount Justice, they walked.

“You can't just avoid me, we are a team” She told him while fidgeting with her sunglasses “Wally, what did I do?”

“You did nothing wrong” He sighed but couldn't decide if what he said was a lie or not “It was not your fault” That wasn't a lie “I'm just not in a good place right now and—“

“And usually you would talk to me about it” She said with a disappointed expression “But if you're avoiding me instead then it has to do with me” she paused, silence lingering between them

“You don't have to tell me about it, but if there's anything I can do to fix things, then please do Wally” She stopped and placed a hand on his arm, her gaze wandering around worriedly “I just want you to be alright, and if I can't help you then maybe Dick can? Just please, don't bottle it up”

He smiled weakly at her and reached up to mess her hair “I will” He said “I just need a little time” she hadn’t given up on him despite how he had ignored her, she was worried and cared, he couldn’t just be selfish and leave her hanging because she didn’t share his feelings.

It would take a while, but he wanted his best friend back at least, and she deserved hers.

«•••»

 _“It’s the gem! At the center of the pentagram,”_ Billy spoke through the link while Vixen panicked trying to reach Zatanna as fast as possible _“Destroy it and we win!”_

 _“That’s all I needed to know”_ Zatanna said through the link and reached down for the helmet of Fate

“Zatanna!”

“Stop!”

Both Aqualad and Kid Flash warned, Vixen thankfully was close enough; she kicked the Helmet away from Zatanna’s hands and went to pick it up. But Zatanna wasn’t giving the helmet up, she made it fly straight back to her hands.

 _“Please, Zatanna, listen! If you put on the helmet—“_ Vixen’s warnings didn’t stop her, Zatanna sealed her fate putting the helmet on and Vixen looked up at Fate sadly.

“Clarion, this ends now” A mixed up version of Fate’s voice with a tinge of Zattana’s called out to the Lord of chaos.

«•••»

“Did we win?” Robin asked waking up

“At a cost” Aqualad lamented

Vixen was preparing herself for what came next

“Fate!” Zatara yelled “Great Nabu, release my daughter”

There was a pause but firmly the Lord of order responded “No.” Vixen felt a chill up to her bones at the expression on Zatara’s face, “Witness what the helmet wants in these hours, the world needs Doctor Fate and the girl’s natural affinity for the mystic arts makes her the perfect candidate”

“You can’t do that!” Artemis claimed

“She has her own life to live!” Robin chimed

“Kent would never allow you—“ But Kid Flash was silenced

“Kent Nelson did object, strenuously, so I released his spirit to the afterlife, he is gone”

There was silence, until.

“Take me instead” Zatara volunteered and everyone looked in surprise, Vixen kept her eyes on the ground “My skills are already at their peak, my body is physically stronger, better able to withstand the strain of your power”

“All true” Fate admitted “But if I remove the helmet, what guarantee have I that you will don it?”

“My word” Zatara concluded and chanted an incantation.

In front of them Fate lowered to the floor and the helmet was removed from Zatanna’s head, she smiled happily at her father “Dad!”

“Zatanna!” The man smiled at her and took her in arms; Vixen held onto Kid Flash’s hand, surprising the boy but receiving a sad look as he too looked on at the scene. The man turned to them next “Take care of my girl”

“You have my word” Batman spoke

“No, please!” Zatanna cried “This is my fault! Dad, don’t! _Dad!_ ” The helmet of Fate had found a new resident, and Zatara was no more.

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**November 7, 09:16EDT**

“And my room’s right next door, if you need anything” M’gann, told Zatanna as they were leaving her boxes inside the girl’s new room at the cave

“Thanks, I, uh, could use a little alone time, okay?”

“Of course” Artemis responded softly and the four teens left the room

Vixen heard a soft sob behind her, she shook her head and looked back at Robin “I’m going straight back to the cave”

The boy nodded at her and they each walked their separate ways.

As he reached down to Wally’s trophy room he could hear the computer in the distance dismissing Vixen; the ginger he was looking for observing the souvenirs he had reunited from each mission.

“That’s a cute one” The boy wonder attempted as he searched for his best friend’s expression, Wally just looked at him for a moment, making him sigh “Did you and Vixen talk? I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have left already if you hadn’t”

Wally reached up to run his hand through his forehead with a sigh “We, uh, talked yes, I think we’re good”

“You think?” Robin asked doubtful “What even happened between you two?”

Wally looked back at him tiredly “It’s just that, I like her, alright? I really do but well...”

“I knew that but,” Robin paused surprised “What's wrong with it? You _should_ tell her, straight u—“

“You _know_ why that’s a bad idea Rob, why would you want me to do it?” Wally told him getting a bit angry and the boy wonder was surprised, after a moment Wally sighed “I heard you guys talking Halloween night _Dick_ , I know she isn't into me, she made that pretty clear” He finished defeatedly.

Dick's eyes widened and he tensed as he looked at his heartbroken best friend having gotten the completely wrong idea.

Being unable to see just how miserable his best friend’s were at the moment he succumbed “Ugh, she's gonna thank me one day” He murmured and received a questioning eyebrow from the red-head, Dick raised his hands exasperatedly “She only said that because she doesn't want to get hurt”

Wally looked at Dick unconvinced but the boy continued “She knows _everything_ that is going to happen _except_ what she herself is altering on our timeline, she has seen things she doesn't want us to see and that she doesn't want to see”

“If this is a lecture over me not being understanding—“

“It's not, Wally” Dick assured quickly “No no, it's just...She's seen everything, so after Halloween and after she had a deep but awkward talk with Bruce —Thing that doesn't happen a lot— she told me what was up, she said the reason you two could never be in a romantic relationship was because _you_ are going to fall in love with someone else”

Wally was malfunctioning, he was still trying to process Dick's words when his worried gaze searched around Dick's expression for any answer “She is worried about me falling for someone else? A person I might not even know yet?”

Dick flinched but tried to cover it, but he wasn't fast enough for the speedster analyzing his expression “Someone I already know? Who? M'ga—“

“Artemis” Dick looks at him worriedly and slightly panicked “She says you'll fall in love with Artemis, that it is already happening”

Wally gaped “No, no, no, no, _no_ , doesn't she get it?” Hi drove his fingers through his hair and around his head as if he thought it would help him figure things out “I don't know what she saw, what life Artemis and I could have had, but that's completely out of question now” He stressed

“I don't feel anything for Artemis! She's a good friend, but I can't imagine myself with her, much less when Victoria is in the equation!” Wally paused looking at Dick pleadingly “Doesn't she understand she already changed our whole lives just _existing_? Maybe in a different universe,

“I'm not saying Artemis isn't great or that it is an outcome _too_ shocking, but not on this one, not on this time-line, universe or whatever, here it was Victoria who has always been beside me Dick, my future _can't be set in stone_ ”

Dick sighed deeply and placed a hand over Wally's shoulder with a grin “Then don't tell me, tell her, because you both are going to drive me crazy” He groaned getting a grin to slip into the red-head's face.

“So, this means she actually likes me?” Wally gave him a big and hopeful smile as Dick chuckled.

Until his expression turned a bit darker and serious “Oh boy, she is going to murder me”

 

**CENTRAL CITY**   
**November 11, 07:16CST**

A lazy hand stumbles for the alarm as it beeps, starting the day at 7:16 in the morning instead of o’clock for the quirky teen turning under his covers. Wally yawns and realizes with a grin “Hey! Sweet 16!” He sits on his bed and makes a little victory dance in place.

 _“That’s right, it’s my birthday”_ He sings on his mind _“Arm’s all better, got my cast off too.”_ Just as he finishes the surprises are just coming as he looks out the window _“And it’s snowing? Cool! This is going to be a good day”_

His phone buzzes and he grins reaching out for it, the screen flashes on

 **Victoria❤︎:** Good morning birthday boy! I promise you are right, today’s going to be a good day

She could do that as many times as possible and it still surprised him, no matter how much he had gotten used to people knowing what he thought because of the mind-link.

He grinned at the message, ever since that talk with Dick hope had been blossoming through his chest, it was risky to try anything right now, but if he could make Victoria notice how much he cared for her or made her realize he had no feelings for Artemis…then hopefully she _did_ actually like him and he wasn’t just getting ahead of himself. Again.

While he had been pretty obvious on his advances to her before, she had apparently seen him flirting like that with other people on a different world, so she hadn’t taken it seriously, at _all_ , so for her he just had a silly crush. He was going to change her view on it.

«•••»

“Happy birthday, Wally” His mother said placing another plate of toast right in front of him, waiting to be devoured at an unholy speed.

“Oh, my favorite breakfast—Heaping piles of everything!” He smiled “Thanks, mom”

As he ate through like a vacuum cleaner, Ruddy started talking over his newspaper “You know, if you ever come up for air, I can take you to the DMV to get your driver’s license after school, this weather will be a good proving ground”

“Mhm,” Wally answered distractedly “Not really in a big rush to drive, dad, because you know, I’m me” Wally pointed at himself between munching his food.

“You certainly are” The man chuckled.

“Plus, the team’s throwing me a big surprise party this afternoon at the cave”

“In school today, ask your teacher the definition of ‘surprise’” His dad mocked

“You want surprise? Just watch Vixie’s expression when I collect my birthday kiss” He kissed his weird hybrid of a sandwich “Mwah, hah!”

“Well, I have a surprise for you” His mother turned on the TV “Or at least your aunt Iris does”

“And a special shout-out to my nephew Wally, wishing him a very happy 16th birthday” Iris spoke on the screen

“So cool!”

“Now for school closures, the following schools have declared today a snow day, Dubuque elementary, Spiesac Junior High, Central City High, Keystone High—“

“Oh yes!” Wally stood from his chair in triumph _“Could life get any sweeter?”_

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**November 11, 16:03EST**

“You could help out you know?” Artemis chided Victoria who was lying on the couch, eyes closed behind her sunglasses

“You’ve got it under control, I’ve seen the future” Victoria called making silly motions with her fingers and the archer rolled her eyes, hey, there’s no better way to hide than plain-sight, Clark Kent taught her that.

Just as she finished her motions Conner had stumbled on the carpet, the cake he was holding on his hands started falling as Victoria had just opened her eyes; quickly she was on the floor balancing the cake on her hands and sighing in relief at the save.

Artemis was grinning “Did you see that one coming? Oh, high seer!”

Victoria snorted as she stood up with the cake on her hands and Conner laughing, she suspected he had done it on purpose “Not that one” She admitted amusedly.

“RECOGNIZED” the tell-tale call from the computer started “KID FLASH, B-0-3”

“Quick, over here” Robin called everyone in a whisper as he turned off the light in the living room.

“ZETA TUBE NETWORK NOW OFFLINE DUE TO EXTREME ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS”

“Woah.” The birthday boy smiled at his luck as he walked “I just made it, be a tragedy if I missed my own—“

The lights blinded him momentarily and everyone yelled happily at him “SURPRISE!” a huge banner and balloons hung from the ceiling in front of him.

“Whaaaaaat?!” He tried to act “Oh, you guys! You shouldn’t have” Faked modesty the red-head.

“Right, not like you’ve been hinting for days or anything” Robin called him out with a grin

Soon both cakes were on the table along with a chocolate fountain, punch and other snacks.

“We made two cakes” M’gann told him proudly

“Awesome! What will you guys eat?”

“We’ll split the cupcake! Make a wish” She continued

“Way ahead of you” Wally grinned looking at Victoria who stood on the other side of the table before taking air and blowing out all the candles on both cakes at once

As the others were taking their own slices of cake —probably rushing before Wally could actually eat both the cakes—, Victoria took a seat next to Wally smiling at him, a box on her side.

“You know, if I tell you my wish it won’t come true” He told her suggestively “But if you guess…” He paused and she raised an amused eyebrow.

Victoria rolled her eyes at Wally unimpressed and pulled the box from her side “Well, this is my guess” it was covered in red paper with little mistletoes and other christmas kind of decorations printed on, a small green ribbon on top and Wally stared surprised taking the box on his hands.

_“Happy birthday, Wally_   
_-V.”_

He stared at the note on top before reaching for the top of the box to open it, he gazed at the contents and pulled them out.

“Sneakers?” He wondered at the red shoes with golden laces, the Flash symbol decorating its side

“I thought you’d like something especially made for you,” she grinned proudly “Special fiberglass sole, developed by Wayne tech, it’s resistant for 100,000km at 700mph, your mom will thank me” She explained

“No way! You had these made for me?” He asked amazed and happy

“No, they were lying on the Batcave’s floor; of course I did Twinkletoes!” She laughed “Though, they were not my idea, I might have stolen it from a comic”

“I don’t mind if you copied the idea, you got them made for me” He was about to say something else as he looked curiously at Artemis, Robin and Zatanna staring at them with knowing smiles when Batman’s voice reverberated through the room.

_“Attention team, suit up, polar stealth, mission briefing in 5”_

«•••»

“Does that mean what I think it means? The league and the team fighting side by side?” Robin asked excitedly after listening to Batman's explanation.

“Woah! Really?” Wally exclaimed happily and Vixen felt a small pain at knowing what would happen, she shook it off over the accomplishment Wally would feel at the end.

“Superboy, use the Supercycle to rendezvous with the Batplane at ice fortress one, you'll drop off Robin, Vixen and Aqualad then continue up with Wolf, Black Canary and Red Tornado in Ice fortress two, Miss Martian Artemis and Zatanna, take the bioship and Rendezvous with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter at Ice fortress three, other leaguers will deal with fortress six, sending all coordinates now”

“Uh, Batman? I think you skipped—“

“Kid Flash, a young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant, with all conventional air traffic grounded by the storm, you'll need to pick up the donor heart at Boston and run it 3000 miles across country” With Batman's orders Kid Flash's expression morphed into dread.

“Who _is_ this girl?” He impulsively asked

“Does it matter?”

“No, of course not, but, can't we zeta—“

“Zeta tubes are offline, sorry” Robin responded

“Right” He sighed “Then, how can I say no?” his head moved down “Guess, I won't be needing stealth” He said pressing his symbol and his suit became yellow “Speedy delivery boy, at your service”

Once everyone started their walk out Vixen stayed behind and neared Wally “Hey, it's only the first of many to come, I promised you, right?” She then reached up to his cheek with one hand, standing up on her toes and pulling him down she kissed his other cheek softly “Today _is_ going to be a great day” she smiled and let go but along her way she turned back one last time “You should bring an extra protein bar with you!” She yelled before hurrying away for the gate to follow Superboy.

The boy stood in shock for a moment there, his cheeks turning as red as his hair and then he smiled softly touching his cheek, at least he got his birthday wish, kinda.


	16. Agendas-23, Insecurity-24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Vixen has trusted important future information to Kid Flash and Robin the three of them get ready to infiltrate CADMUS again and take an important subject out of it.
> 
> While Vixen did in fact become a sidekick for Batman --unofficially until the team was formed-- many months ago already she had not expected to be a part of this mission, not that she isn't happy about it. But she certainly isn't happy about the revolting feelings she is having against Artemis, her friend! Of course Artemis is making mistakes, but is she the only one?

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**November 23, 21:45EST**

“I still can’t completely wrap my head around this” Kid Flash mumbled staring into space, Robin, Vixen and him were sitting around a coffee table inside a locked room at the cave; Zatanna and M’gann were in the living-room, far from hearing range but they didn’t want to risk it.

“I know, what I find most surprising though is the fact that Batman decided he would leave this up to us, no suggestions, no time-frame, he wants to know as little about this as possible” Robin was leaning forwards from his seat “It’s like someone took control over him, I mean, he _never_ does this”

“I think it’s because I left a lot of information unsaid, at least from him” Vixen frowned thoughtfully “He must know he has to act as if he, in fact, knew nothing, so he’ll react and vote unbiased of what happens tonight in two days when the League selects a new member”

There was a moment of silence while they all got lost in thought before KF broke it “But how are we going to break this to Roy? Hey, dude, turns out you’re a three-year-old clone of the original Roy Harper programmed to betray us and give out our information to this secret Villain society!” He deadpanned next “That doesn’t seem like a good approach”

Vixen bit her lip “We are not telling him yet” She said and both boys looked at her curiously “Everything must keep going as normal, we can only tell Roy the night right before he would be meant to betray us”

“Why wait so long?” Robin asked curiously, if she was giving out that information he really wanted to know as much as she could dish out.

“Because we have no idea how he will react after he finds out” She explained with a worried expression “Originally he gets —understandably— kinda messed up after finding out he is a clone, but under the pressure of The Light capturing the League, Roy will not be reacting to his personal demons, so we’ll have time to tell everyone else on the team what’s going on and for M’gann to remove his programming, then we can fool The Light, and…afterwards we can be there for him as much as possible”

Both boys nodded understanding and the three got ready to leave the cave.

“Where are you guys going?” Zatanna asked them curiously as the three had reached the tubes together, Vixen smiled at her.

“The Batcave has better screens to play video games, and since you and M’gann are watching movies we didn’t want to interrupt you guys” She explained calmly and the other two boys grinned unnaturally

“O-kay?” Zatanna responded unconvinced “Anyways, we ran out of popcorn, so we could go with you guys for—“

“There’s no popcorn at the cave” Robin answered quick, “Besides, you know Batman, if he finds out we snuck another person into the Batcave he’ll have our heads,” He said pointing at Vixen and himself

“Then why does Wally get to go?” She asked suspiciously

“Hey, I’m basically part of their family by this point” KF grinned smugly “I once had breakfast there when neither of these two were present and Batman didn’t even say anything, he just looked up at me, raised an eyebrow and continued with his business, only Al—“ He received a strong nudge to his rib “Ow”

“Yeah, Wally is a special case, I’ll give you that” Vixen answered while glaring at him

Zatanna was still curious about what was going on but decided to drop it, they had already given her a good smile anyway “Right, well, have fun playing video games and whatever” She answered waving at them.

The teens grinned before disappearing through the blinding light from the tubes.

«•••»

**WASHINGTON DC**   
**November 23, 22:27EDT**

“Found an entrance” Robin mentioned pointing to the top of the building and searching for heat signatures “There’s only a couple of people in the building”

“But if they catch us it’s game over” Vixen stressed and Robin nodded

Soon the outside camera’s were on a loop, the teenagers reached the top of the building and quietly made their way in. They quickly hurried to the elevator but just as they reached it the doors started to open, they hid as quickly as possible as a member of the staff walked tiredly to a restroom; once out of sight they reached the elevator.

Vixen was checking the heat signatures constantly as to not get found out by someone. They reached their level and hurried out, remembering the way to what used to be Superboy’s pod and making sure no camera caught them in tape.

“Well, this brings back some memories,” Kid said as he looked around the room, the door closing behind them “Namely some of Superboy knocking us out but also good memories”

“Yeah, I think he still wanted to punch you afterward” Robin grinned and Vixen walked to the right side of the room, her hands on the weird walls, searching until she found the door. she tore the covering away to show them a big door and then flinched

“Um,” She looked at the boys sheepishly “This should actually be covered before we leave, so I think I just messed up”

Robin deadpanned but KF snorted at her “And you made fun of Superboy for messing up the covert part of our missions when you’re supposed to actually know what you’re doing” The boy wonder complained.

“Shut up, Dick” She whisper-yelled

“No names on a mission”

“And who said I was calling your name?” Vix was pretty sure she had just used one of the most common insults she had seen being thrown at Richard John Grayson and yet she was really proud of herself when she noticed the dead-pan look her brother was giving her while KF tried to contain his laughter.

Unbelievable, had she really used it first? To think soon enough Dick would be using it himself.

“Ok, Ok” After KF had calmed down enough he tried to get back on track “When we get out we cover the door again, this material should get fused back with a little light from your guy’s mini-lasers, piece of cake, we just place this small lens in between so it doesn’t get burned off”

Once they got that covered they concentrated on getting the door open, as they walked through the boys were surprised to see so many pods “Great,” KF said, “And how are we going to find him through all of this?”

“You’re fast” Vixen grinned “You can do this KF!” She happily said, Robin grinned at her side looking for any signs of the database having information on the genomorphs down there.

The speedster groaned but did as told, Robin though, stopped for a moment to look at her suspiciously “Didn’t you say you had been here before to see him?” He asked confused

“Yeah, I just wanted Twinkletoes running around” She grinned “And I came in differently, I kinda stole an artifact from the Hall of Justice, but they realized it had been gone for a while and reconnected so they removed it from the exhibitions”

Robin was wide-eyed and about to say something when Kid Flash yelled: “Found him!”

The other two hurried to his side, Vixen took a breath before looking once again at the boy inside the pod, she frowned, it was like coming back to four months ago, when she had made her second visit to Cadmus and spent the night staring at him helplessly, it still hurt her that she only came back now to help.

Not even that, they couldn't free him yet.

She cleared her throat, “So, now we get him out of here, pod and all” She lamented, Red Arrow could free this Roy himself when it was the time to.

«•••»

**WAYNE MANOR**   
**November 24, 00:13EDT**

With much difficulty, slowly and really carefully so they wouldn’t be found out by anyone and having stolen a little cart to move the pod they were out of CADMUS and making their way around the Batcave with a guy in a coma.

The three of them stared with troubled expressions at the pod once it was set, just for a small moment because they had to connect it and make sure it kept working, none of them could really be happy with the fact that they couldn’t give Roy his life back just yet, or what he could have of his life back at least.

“Can we cover it? With a blanket or something?” KF asked “If Alfred comes down here and finds it things will just be too weird, also, it's giving me the creeps”

Robin nodded and disappeared up the stairs, Vixen and KF remained down there in silence, walking over to sit on a couple of chairs meanwhile.

“Are they going to mention me at the watchtower? You know, when they vote for new members” KF asked not been able to contain himself from it anymore “Honestly, I’ve been curious all day, it’s gonna drive me crazy Vic” He complained

His question made the room feel lighter, made her lose some of the tension from the guy in the coma “Well” She teased him while he gave her his best puppy eyes “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to say”

“No way, do they want me to join the League?” He asked getting ahead of himself and she rolled her eyes

“No,” He deflated and pouted at the answer “…But you were actually considered for a place on their table” The boy looked shocked but grinned “I don’t know how much was commented about you joining, but Doctor Fate nominated you, he was pretty sure you were absolutely ready to join, and you know, one could believe a guy as old and wise as him” She grinned

KF was ecstatic, he made a punch to show how victorious he felt, it was a lot of progress to have been considered for a place “Yes!”

Just as he did that Robin came back down the steps of the staircase with a large blanket, looking curiously at them both “What did I miss? Did KF ever con—“ The boy’s mouth was covered quickly by KF who had left his seat stumbling a little as he quickly left it and Vixen confused

Robin chuckled at his friend’s reaction “—Consider that you shouldn’t let me out of the loop?” Robin finished giving Kid a mischievous grin, the older boy glared at him and the girl remained confused.

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**December 5, 16:56EST**

“RECOGNIZED, VIXEN, B-0-2” The young vigilante rushed in through the tubes and grinned at the team surrounding Roy

“Vix! I thought you would be out with Batman?” M’gann asked curiously, not expecting the girl to have free time, Robin and Vixen would usually be busier than the rest of the team, just last night she had been greeting pompous jerks all around to give Wayne enterprises good publicity and when it wasn’t that or following Bruce to work so she could learn the ropes, then it was Batman business.

“Actually it’s a covert mission in which three people are too many people, according to Bats at least, so I’m free, wanted to hang out and I didn’t want to miss out on Red Arrow finally joining the team” She grinned looking up at the older boy who looked back to roll his eyes at her “A miracle right in front of my eyes!”

“Isn’t it great?” Wally asked walking towards them “Just when I thought it’d never happen”

“Save your breaths kids” Red couldn’t help a smirk “Just thought you wouldn’t mind my help”

Vixen stared at him for a moment before bursting “Nope, he can leave now” She joked hands in the air “Don’t miss him anymore”

Roy was grinning and about to say something else when the Zeta tubes beamed.

“RECOGNIZED, ARTEMIS, B-0-7”

“Artemis” Green Arrow greeted his sidekick “Just in time, look who’s agreed to join the team”

Red turned to look at Artemis and Wally threw his hands on the air with a smile “Finally!”

Artemis wasn’t thrilled “Sure. Team’s needed a real archer”

There was concerned look from Wally before GA continued “Ok, people, listen up” He walked to the front of the room “The dynamic duo’s on a case in Gotham, but Batman gave me a heads up” Three screens appeared in front of them “Sportsmaster was spotted coming from Louis Armstrong New Orleans internatio—“

Vixen stopped listening, too lost in thought, she remembered this episode well, Artemis and Wally have had their moments but…she remembered Wally seeming more smitten with her through this episode.

It was in all honesty not something she thought was worth thinking too much about, there were many more things that demanded her attention, how would she break it down to Red Arrow that he was actually a clone, that she still had to finish that calculus sheet she had been too lazy to do, the changes she had to make on her personal journal to guide her through this dimension and the timeline, that gala Bruce dreaded that was coming up next week.

But she couldn’t help glancing at Wally.

“All of us?” Connor asked GA, he had finished his explanation while she was entertained “Seems like overkill for a shadow job”

“Perhaps a small squad, Miss Martian’s camouflage abilities do seem ideal” Red Tornado provided

“I thought the sidekicks—Sorry, ex-sidekicks could suit up on this” As he spoke the boys beside her looked between each other with grins “Aqualad, Kid Flash, Red Arrow, Vixen” The last name surprised her.

With her it would be one more person but she guessed Green Arrow thought it would be a good bonding mission, she was after all Batman’s sidekick, even if it had been only for a month before the team was formed.

Was this Batman's plan? His reasoning for not taking her with him tonight had been shady. Now that she thought about it, Dick had been questioning her a lot lately.

Her eyes widened, Dick had been questioning her a lot about _Artemis_ especially, had she blurted out too much after Halloween?

An arm rested on her shoulders startling her out of her thoughts as Wally saw her spacing out, Aqualad and Red turned back and grinned at her too, she smiled.

“Good. Stakeouts make me crazy” Conner answered pleased

“We could use the night off” M’gann agreed

“I want in” Artemis claimed “With M’gann and Robin out no one’s logged more hours piloting the bioship,” She said

But while Vixen had expected her reaction she felt bothered by the archer’s wording “What am I?” She asked making the blonde turn “Chopped liver?”

Artemis quickly found her way out “If we need a quick escape I can take you guys out, you’d be more useful out of the ship” Both friends with simple words had become a little tense.

“Are you sure Artemis?” GA asked

“Absolutely”

Vixen gazed at Artemis for a moment, an extremely selfish part of her didn’t want the girl to come, another one wanted her to grow as a person from her mistakes, so she could later feel less threatened by Red’s presence. So she said nothing.

She looked up to find Red Arrow looking at her curiously, she just shook her head at him before sending the boy a small smile. The arm around her shoulders tensed while its owner observed the small interaction.

«•••»

The bioship hummed softly as Artemis led it across the ocean, the girl sat with eyebrows creased and Vixen looked at Wally by her left, she nudged him slightly and the boy who looked concerned over Artemis looked back at Vixen surprised.

Wally realized that she knew he wanted to talk to Artemis, an uncomfortable feeling set on his stomach before he turned back to the matter at hand “Ahh, this could wind up being one of those things that sounds better in my head than out loud, but” He began turning around on his seat to look at their pilot “You are a real archer”

Artemis looked at him unimpressed and Vixen smiled a little, he continued “You kno- I mean, I’m jazzed about Red Arrow, we go way back, you know?” He panicked a little there “But you, you’ve made your own place on the team, you have nothing to prove”

Artemis smiled softly as she reflected on Wally’s words, Vixen gulped looking to her side as he finished “Not to _us_ , ok?” He wasn’t supposed to say that, Vixen quickly realized, eyes widening a fraction.

She calmed down, it was just because Artemis and Wally weren’t the only ones on this side of the ship, she should probably have gone to the back with Red and Aqualad. Vixen realized it was weird that she hadn’t said anything yet and felt the gazes of both her friends on her head.

“We’ve worked together for many months now and gone through a lot, we trust you completely” she accompanied the sentiment with her own words but barely looked back at the archer from her seat, a smile put up on her face.

Artemis bought her expression “Ok” Artemis replied much calmer now “And, Wally? It sounded fine out loud” She reassured

Vixen looked back towards the horizon, hoping to avoid looking at the smile she knew Wally would be wearing.

«•••»

**ORLEANS PARISH**   
**December 5, 21:27CST**

_“Target’s heading north”_ Vixen heard Red say through her communicator _“Pursue but maintain a discreet distance, especially Vixen, careful, Sportsmaster’s proven adept at—“_

“He has detected Martian camouflage when in motion, I know Red” She smiled, she had taken control over the Bioship when the others left it, leaving her and Artemis alone, she started following.

“Be careful Vixen! I get you Red” Wally mocked, his comm turned off for a moment so he could complain out loud about silly stuff, hands tightening on his bike slightly.

 _“He stopped, hold your positions, I am closing in for a closer look”_ Red said.

“Redundant” Vixen stated and then looked at her right carefully, maybe since Artemis knew it would be harder to make a move with Vixen there she just wouldn’t, maybe she would remember Wally’s words and her last reassurance.

Maybe this time it would be enough.

She couldn’t live with the maybe, and Artemis looked impatient. “I’m going in” Vixen called through the comm, Artemis was startled “Red, Cheshire is behind you, there is no way you’ll get out unseen unless she is stopped first”

 _“Roger that, rest of you, hold your stances”_ The boy agreed

Vixen opened up the hatch and then looked at Artemis who was about to take command of the ship, “I might need you to move the ship so stay here” She tried to not make it sound like an order but emphasized the words before jumping out.

Vixen sneaked behind the assassin, her footsteps quiet as she concentrated on her photo-umbra-kinesis to hide in the shadows; she quietly took out her tranquilizer darts, focusing on Cheshire’s neck.

She was about to shoot when a branch broke from behind her and Cheshire was alerted to her presence.

And Artemis’.

Vixen tried shooting the tranquilizer but Cheshire deflected it, the young fox growled loudly and glared at Artemis who was trying to shoot her sister.

“We were found out!” Vixen called through the communicator before throwing a foxarang at the assassin.

 _“We?”_ Came Red’s bothered voice from the communication device, Vixen unarmed Cheshire with her staff quickly, the woman came to quick sense for a hand to hand combat, but as they fought Artemis decided to give her a roundhouse kick.

Only Cheshire saw it coming and Vixen received the kick instead quickly falling to the floor.

An Arrow trapped Cheshire and bound her to a tree as Red appeared behind them, Vixen sighed relieved.

“Why Arrow, if you wanted another date you only had to ask” Cheshire flirted and Artemis threw him a horrified expression.

“You two are dating?!” The girl yelled

“What, no!” He yelled pointedly and Vixen got up rolling her eyes.

“Why deny the attraction,” Cheshire said “After all, Arrow-“

“She's busting us to Sportsmaster!” Vixen growled and looked at Red “You need to go for him! Now!” She yelled and the boy nodded firmly leaving immediately to follow Sportsmaster

“My, what a clever girl”

«•••»

Arrow got to shoot at Sportsmaster’s boat to keep him in sight, once KF got here to help Vixen looked enraged.

Arrow swiftly ran to his water vehicle, leaving Artemis looking at him outraged “You are abandoning?!”

“I’m prioritizing!” He quickly stated before following the man.

“Oh, that’s got to sting, he makes the shot you were afraid to even try” Cheshire called “And what you did was help your friend fail”

“What?” KF asked and Vixen shook her head dismissing it

“Aqualad,” She called through her comm making sure Cheshire didn’t listen, “Make sure the tracking device remains on Sportsmaster’s boat, he knows you are down there so be careful”

Both girls were thrown away to the floor and as KF rushed to them Cheshire disappeared.

Vixen was holding onto her side in pain, she was pretty sure if her bottom rib wasn’t broken before then it was now.

“Did you…” Kid began asking them as he helped her up

“Tracers on her swords” Artemis answered and Vixen suppressed a groan. No matter what she knew was most likely to happen she still felt betrayed.

Wally smiled at Artemis but Vixen interrupted him; if it was out of spite, jealousy or the mere anger she felt at Artemis for what she did? Vixen had no idea, but she spoke anyway “So where _is_ she headed then, Artemis?”

Her words were bitter and the blonde was surprised, never having received that treatment from Vixen first hand.

Kid Flash looked between them confused but then reacted to the sound of Red’s vehicle “Oh, hey, there’s the guys” He disappeared rushing for them but Vixen awaited a response from Artemis.

“Only one of you was supposed to leave the ship, and it wasn’t Artemis” Red Arrow crossed his arms looking at the green-clad girl with a glare

“We still got her coordinates” Artemis defended

“Then where is she going Artemis?” Vixen insisted, she was still glaring, but in all honesty, she was giving Artemis a chance, if she showed them were Cheshire was headed now then she would have no chance to give them fake coordinates.

“She is heading north” Artemis stated showing her the GPS much to the other girl’s surprise and anger

How did Artemis get the tracker on the train without her noticing?!

“Sportsmaster was heading south” Red frowned “Kinda like this mission”

“Maybe he’ll double back, maybe she will”

“Either way, they’ll rendezvous, we’ll find them” KF called lightly

“We better, Sportsmaster acquired an attaché case, we need to learn what it held, if you had stayed in the bioship—“ Aqualad was interrupted

“I thought Vixen might need help”

“I could have, that is exactly why I asked you to stay on the ship” Vixen’s glare would have deepened if it had been possible “It was only because you followed that I was caught, your mission was to stay, in case of anything you radio a warning”

“And if she found you by hacking our frequency?” Artemis fought

“Then it would have already been too late because you see, I _did_ radio a warning before leaving” Vixen tightened her fists

“We’re getting nowhere” Aqualad sighed “We can talk about this back at the mountain, but right now we must follow them"

“So let’s stop looking to place blame and start looking for Cheshire” KF defended

“Here, since clearly, I can’t be trusted, you track her” Artemis snarled giving Vixen the tracker.

It made her feel like a hypocrite, she had just told Artemis that they trusted her and then did this, but she couldn’t stop. At least Wally hadn’t taken the GPS from her like he would have Red Arrow.

“Artemis…” The boy called and she sighed

“It’s fine, I’ll follow in the bioship” She dismissed and started walking away.

“Vixen,” Aqualad began “You two wi—“

“Not so fast” Vixen warned them when Artemis was out of sight

“Vixen, why are you acting like this?” KF asked disappointed “We should trust Artemis, you—“

“I also placed a tracker on Cheshire” She spoke to interrupt him, no way would she listen to Kid Flash defending Artemis right now, she showed them the coordinates on her wrist computer.

The boy’s eyes widened “She’d be going the same way Sportsmaster did” Red said

“No way” Kid couldn’t process what was happening, but he knew Vixen wouldn’t be setting them up. He had just thought Artemis wouldn’t either. “Is she so desperate to prove herself?”

“Enough to send us on a wild goose chase to catch the villains herself” Vixen growled.

They quickly decided on what to do, Vixen sent them the coordinates and followed Artemis to the ship to stop her.

Just as she stepped in though, a sharp pain hit her neck, she saw dots before starting to black out. Vixen took in breaths but fell to the floor, unconscious because of her own dart, which Artemis had found.

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**December 6, 03:19EST**

She woke up in the Bioship, her head hurting and Wally holding her up, they were all walking out of the ship when she came to her senses.

“You were out for a bit there,” Wally told her concerned, “Artemis told us Cheshire hit you with a tranquilizer before we reunited back at the lake, the adrenaline must have kept you awake after she left”

Artemis did what? Vixen got to her feet not saying a word and Wally remained close to help her walk.

“Let me be clear—“ Vixen heard Kaldur say, it was distant, like she was watching the cartoon and not her friend speaking “We failed. Though the injustice League is in custody their allies still scheme and we have learned nothing of their plans”

“Gee, I wonder why” Red sarcastically commented while looking at Artemis

“Hey! Who found out Sportsmaster was working for Brain, Kalrion, and Ivo?” Artemis yelled and Vixen was recovering enough to get mad again.

“Yeah, great intel, except Ivo’s been in Belle Reve the whole time. And the guards just checked, it’s the real Ivo, not a robot” Red Arrow answered.

“At least we still followed, Vixie fixed it” Wally walked up to Red trying to calm the anger he himself felt at Artemis, Vixen missed his helping hand.

Red Arrow showed him a dart “The dart, so? Cheshire used it on Vixen”

“No, this is Vixen’s dart” Red Arrow pointed to the utility belt the dazed girl had around her waist “Artemis took it to knock her out, and not only that, Vixen still has two broken ribs because of her! I checked back at the ship, she’s only not complaining because she is drugged”

Wally turned to Vixen, his eyes wide in horror as she looked down at her ribs and searched with her fingers for the injury.

“Artemis?” Wally turned to the archer in surprise and then the anger he tried to contain showed on his face “Are you that freaked out about Arrow joining the team you had to prove yourself by bringing down the bad guys solo? Going as far as to drug Vixen so she wouldn’t do anything?” He stared at her intently “Please, tell me I’m wrong”

Artemis inhaled, trying to find something to say in her defense before she met Vixen’s eyes staring at her angrily as the girl recovered her senses. She had nothing on her defense.

“Well, nice going, what you proved is that you’re insecure and selfish” He finished and threw Cheshire’s weapon to the floor “Keep the sai, this is the right souvenir for the mission.” He finished grabbing the dart from Red’s hand.

He grabbed Vixen up and carried her to the kitchen before she could stumble there herself.

«•••»

“My head’s fine, I feel my fingers now,” Victoria told Wally while she played with the heat irradiated from her mug, Wally frowned though.

“Don’t joke about it, you were out for around four hours” He told her sitting down with his own mug of hot chocolate “And now I'm going to have to drug you with a bunch of pain-killers and hope you'll stay still”

“But it'll heal alone”

“But it'll hurt like hell Vic” He paused “How are you so calm?”

Victoria looked up into his forest green eyes, her own turning grey “I'm kinda realizing how badly I messed up, instead of calling her out like that I should have supported her and maybe then she would have realized I know she'll do good, instead, my judging just made her more insecure”

Wally agreed “Yeah, you were kinda aggressive”

She closed her eyes in shame “I know” she had been too driven by her emotions, angry at Artemis for her original plan and then every word that came after, besides, the girl had drugged her! But she had to admit her jealousy played a part on this too “She should be the one getting a hot chocolate and a comforting talk”

Wally looked back at her hands on the mug “Just because you messed up too doesn't make what she did less terrible”

“I mean, no, it doesn't but...” She looked for words through her mind “Maybe not right now but she needs some comfort too”

Wally sighed but agreed half-heartedly with a nod of his head, then he stood up, leaving his mug on the coffee table and then reaching for the huge first aid kit beside the sofa.

“Give me space to see your ribs,” He said taking out some bandages

“That's not going to hold it—“

“It'll help, get the jacket off”

She started reaching out but every movement too large had her hissing in pain, she should be used to these things by now but even through all her adventures for the past 6 months, she had yet to break a bone.

Wally reacted to her hiss worried and reached up to help “Sorry, I wasn't thinking” he said removing buttons and zipper “You'll have to move your arms open wide and lean forwards a little bit” He warned

Without complaining, Victoria threw her arms up and started leaning forwards “Oh-Kay, yes, this proves I am not drugged anymore” she cringed

Wally chuckled lightly at her misfortune but covered it up, after some struggle, he finally uncovered her torso to bandage it up. He had to help her drink some painkillers before-hand though.

“Alright,” He lowered her shirt to cover the rest of her body once finished and handed her a bag of ice, not before making her squeal by placing it on her neck though.

“WALLY” She complained reaching out for her cold neck as he laughed

“Don't be mean to your doctor! Now, lift your left leg” He said but she looked at him confused for a moment “I pay attention, you have been leaning more to your right and your hand has been fumbling there too, stop trying to hide it from me” He mumbled

She looked at him silently and then slowly lifted her leg, a ghost of a smile on her features “I can always count on you” She said adoringly

The boy was startled at her tone and kept staring at her intently, before he forced his gaze to what he was supposed to be fixing up.

After her boot was off and he had finally gotten access to her lower leg Victoria's voice came softly, “She could use a talk with you”

Wally sighed “I don't know what you know, so I can't understand why she'd do something so selfish,” He answered simply, taking out some alcohol “If it worries you so much you can talk with her”

“I mean, I _will_ but I just think she could use a talk with you much more, you guys can make up, when things are less tense”

Wally frowned and stood up to look at her from above “Why is it so important to you that Artemis and I get along?” He blurted out

She looked up at him curiously, he was being too serious but she doubted it would be wise of her to babble to him about what his love life would be like.

“She really needs a friend right now but after today I think she would need some validation from you instead of mine”

Wally shook his head in negative and looked at her in the eyes “No, Victoria, ever since she got here you've worried about me being nice to her”

“She is going through some difficult stuff and didn't need you complaining about us not having Red Arrow instead when she just got here—“

“ _Victoria_ ” His voice was more serious, she looked up at her friend who's expression was unrelenting, he continued “I don't like Artemis”

Victoria frowned, why was he telling her this? What did he know? Before she could process this Wally spoke again.

“You're too obviously setting us up” He lied and tried to justify himself “But the thing is I _don't_ like her, if you're so set on me getting with her then it's because you saw something on the original timeline”

He paused, and just stared at her eyes for a moment her mask was still on so he was unable to watch as her eyes changed to betray her frozen expression “But this isn't the original timeline, things are different now and my experiences are too”

Victoria's eyes widened and she looked at her leg on the table, trying to divert her attention from Wally. As he wasn't getting much response from her he kneeled back down to continue cleaning the wounds on her leg, hoping he had made his point across.

There were a couple more moments of this uncomfortable silence before Victoria responded, after a huge discussion with herself on her mind. “You are right, you haven't experienced the same things” she fidgeted with her left hand traveling really softly over her ribs.

Wally had tensed when he heard her talking but shortly resumed his work, waiting for her to say anything else.

“Maybe I pushed it too much and it became unnatural, if you guys are meant to be that's not a TV show's decision or mine to take” She continued, wondering, how much could she really have affected Wally's feelings? She was doubtful, but she couldn't say that out loud “Sorry, Walls”

The red-head smiled still not looking at her, but finally releasing some air he had been holding “It's fine Vic, just don't assume again”

Both teens relaxed on their places, Victoria only tensing at the pain on her body.

Just as Wally had finished wrapping up her leg he made a bold move, with his hand on the back of her leg he lifted it a moment before letting it back down on the floor.

Victoria shivered with wide eyes as the soft feeling of a pair of lips had hovered over her skin, just above the bandages on her leg, just enough for her to feel it. Then it was gone, Wally was smiling at her with an intense look in his eyes before standing up and picking his long-forgotten mug from the table.

“It's cold now, do you want more chocolate?” He asked casually, as if the last couple of seconds hadn't happened.

“Yes, please” she responded automatically, but her voice was soft, her mug was taken from her hand by his warm one and she tried to even her breaths while hearing the noises Wally made behind her in the kitchen.


	17. Performance-25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the mission to save Haly's circus to which Robin didn't invite Vixen or Kid Flash Christmas arrives.
> 
> Victoria is completely set on the idea of making the Batfamily a much closer family than what they were on the comic books, she wants to make sure they all know Bruce loves them, so what better place to begin her own mission than making sure they have actual family traditions?
> 
> After this both of Batman's sidekicks get ready to celebrate with their friends at the cave.

**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**December 23, 01:01EST**

“So, he didn’t want to take me either” Victoria told Wally while he took out most everything inside the fridge for his sandwich, she shook her head when he offered her one.

“But what _is_ he doing? Why would he not take us with him?” Wally asked her, he had just found out from Tornado that the guys weren’t on a mission set by Batman as he could have been led to believe then found her lurking around

“Maybe you should ask him Walls” She smiled softly, she had told him what had been going on at the mansion mostly.

Dick had been pretty busy the last couple of days investigating by himself, even refused a couple of outings she had suggested. Haly’s circus was in danger and while she had hoped Dick would take her on this mission he had planned if he didn’t want _Wally_ there then he definitely didn’t want her there either.

So the boy wonder left the mansion early in the morning; Victoria’s alarm clock had been turned off without her noticing and Alfred had not knocked on her door to wake her up. She didn’t complain, she understood why he did it.

Wally nodded and reached up to his comm synchronizing it with Robin’s signal; Victoria was surprised when her comm started transmitting too.

 _“Uh, yeah?”_ Dick answered startled

“Dude, where are you?” Wally asked and Victoria watched as the boy in front of her started stacking up his sandwich while he spoke

 _“Confidential mission from Batman”_ Came Dick’s quick response

“Wow, you know what I’m doing?” Wally wasn’t pleased “Making a baloney sandwich, kinda like you just did”

Victoria grinned laying her cheek on the palm of her hand uncaring of Wally catching onto the expression she had on her face. Ever since he had fixed her ribs and leg up in the kitchen she would catch more soft looks directed at her from him, and she eventually loosened up enough to return them without much worry.

“I talked to Tornado,” Wally continued “You guys are not on a mission, not an official one anyway, Vic says hi”

She hadn’t said anything.

Dick sighed from the other side of the comm _“Hi”_ He greeted, obviously aware she was listening _“A friend, Jack Haly”_

“The circus guy?” Wally asked easily remembering “From your old flying Grayson days?”

 _“Yeah, he’s implicated in this global crime spree”_ Dick explained _“Someone in the show’s dirty, but I need to prove old Jack’s clean or he might lose the circus”_

“Then why not bring us along?” Wally asked gulping a bite he had taken from his sandwich “I- we know your backstory; we know what that circus means to you. It’s where you grew up, it’s where you lost your—“

Victoria glared slightly at Kid Mouth but her expression quickly softened as she heard Dick’s voice again.

 _“I left you behind because you know my backstory”_ Dick cleared _“I didn’t want my best pals questioning my objectivity”_

“Dude, that’s what a best pal’s for,” Wally told him

Victoria adored both of these guys, but she kinda felt like she was invading their moment, despite them being also her best friends, she was used to it being Kid Flash and Robin only.

Wally looked up at her and smiled softly “Vic says she loves you”

She looked at Wally in surprise but denied nothing.

When Dick came back the next day he was in much higher spirits.

  
**MOUNT JUSTICE**   
**December 25th, 20:00EST**

“RECOGNIZED, ROBIN, B-0-1, VIXEN, B-0-2”

Christmas Eve at Wayne manor had been pretty eventful, to say the least.

After a lot of whining on her part Victoria had managed to avoid a Christmas ball hosted by Bruce Wayne, he had thought it easy an excuse to meet with clients and some of his workers on a lighter setting but she had had enough of meetings, snobs, tours through the company, and she wasn’t wasting her first Christmas with the man like this.

Victoria was set on making the Batfamily much closer than what she remembered them becoming through the comic books, she wanted each of the members to be aware of how much Bruce cared for them, she would make this man share his feelings no matter what it would cost her dammit!  
  
She also remembered an awkward interaction between Dick and Jason in which it was revealed how Jason actually admired Dick but they still acted all though and the brotherly love was tossed out the window; thankfully, Tim and dick were closer than that weird relationship.

She didn't want to see that first-hand so a good place to start would be with family traditions.

She forced the man to make cookies with her, Alfred and Dick in the morning. Dick thought it would be a disaster, but somehow they had ended up laughing with flour all over and egg yolk on her hair while Alfred and Bruce smiled at them instead of complaining.

The day continued, she had them all following any cute Christmas tradition she could think of and then they opened presents. It was sweet.

But now, after some sleep and having finished an unstable gingerbread house, both teenagers were ready to celebrate with their friends for the rest of the night.

As soon as they crossed through the beams they were greeted with the sight of M’gann wearing a huge smile accompanied with Christmas colored clothes and fake prongs “Merry Christmas!” She greeted them excitedly then rushed to give them both a hug

Vixen smiled “Nice outfit M’gann”

“Thanks! We don’t have Christmas on Mars, so I looked up everything to make the perfect Christmas party” She excitedly explained and Artemis appeared behind her

“If we want this to be perfect then we really should get to the table before Wally leaves us without any food” The archer complained

«•••»

They were all laughing around the living room telling stories and finishing whatever food was left, not that much considering they had a speedster. It was wonderful, like every sweet Christmas cliché had just happened in front of her eyes.

She even caught a glimpse of Conner and M'gann kissing under a mistletoe.

It was another family dinner, even if not everyone was happy with each other...Which probably made this situation feel closer to the reality of actual families.

While Victoria herself had already made peace with Artemis and Roy was not on her tail anymore the fox themed vigilante still caught Wally glaring at the blonde every once in a while.

It was around 11 when people began leaving, giving each other hugs and wishing a Merry Christmas before disappearing through a zeta beam.

That was exactly what Victoria had been planning to do too just as Robin disappeared through the beam before she reached it, but the very familiar voice of a red-head stopped her.

Why were there so many good looking red-heads on this place anyway?

“Where do you think you’re going?” Wally grinned behind her.

Victoria turned around to look at him curiously from where she stood “You know, home? Relax for a bit of a while before my eager sibling remembers how much he loves Christmas movies?”

Wally shook his head in negative at her “No way, we haven't had a mug of warm chocolate, it’s tradition for us now and you can’t skip tradition on Christmas” He finished, he looked outraged at the mere idea of her doing such thing “Besides, someone needs to bandage your ankle up, so come on and let’s make those cups of hot chocolate” Wally finished with a bright smile and Victoria laughed happily

“I was sure if I had fooled Alfred about my ankle I could fool you” She admitted

“You probably didn’t fool him, most likely he didn’t want to hurt your ego” Wally smirked

Victoria had to agree with him on that “Guess I’ll have to deal with the consequences, who would have known that handing you a warm cup of coffee would make you so greedy?” She smiled and walked over to him.

Before she could get far though a brisk wind blew her hair back and Wally was immediately by her side holding her right.

“Now, there’s a reason I have to bandage your ankle, so can you make my work easier?” He asked with amusement

«•••»

She sat on the couch, looking over it towards the kitchen were Wally insisted he’d make the chocolate this time.

“There’s still some Christmas cookies left from M’gann’s last batch” He informed her

“Yay! We can finish them and not leave any for the rest of the team” She chuckled

“If I let you have any that is” He teased her but just as he looked up at her he was attacked by the sad pout she sent his way, bright pink eyes staring at him sadly from over the sunglasses, he grimaced “That’s cheating”

“I don’t care as long as it works”

The boy chuckled walking towards her mugs in hand “And you were about to miss out on his” He told her while offering her the mug she always used.

She took the mug with a thank you in both of her hands to warm them up, a smile on her face as he placed a small plate of cookies in front of her “How did this begin? Us, hanging out in here with two warm mugs after every mission?” She asked curiously.

They had been doing this for months, eventually, it became more frequent, they always had to have a warm mug after a mission, but even when there wasn't one they often found themselves sitting in the couch talking and holding the mugs. They grew used to waiting up for the other in the kitchen, both learning to make the perfect cup of chocolate, tea or coffee for each other.

Soon Wally looked up at her remembering “I know, I was here, raiding the fridge when you suddenly appeared from behind me, no sunglasses, so I asked about your eyes, your identity" His smile started growing as he remembered fondly "Then you explained everything to me and we just kept talking"

Victoria looked at him attentively “Yeah…I gave you a cup of coffee” She stated softly and they looked at each other with warm smiles. Then Wally sighed as he reached up for her face with his hands.

“Come on, you should just lose the shades when there’s no one else in the room, doesn’t your sight get strained?” He asked and his fingers brushed her skin, she reflexively reached up before letting him continue, the shades soon off and on the table as Wally smiled warmly at her.

“Perfect” He stated softly while staring into her eyes while they changed from a chocolate brown to the vibrant pink he liked without her noticing “That’s the color they had when we were leaving my parents place, you know, on Jay’s birthday”

She looked at him curiously, it looked like he was closer but she wasn’t really sure if she was imagining it or not “Pink?”

“Yeah” He whispered and this time he was definitely closer “Pink”

“Wally?” The girl questioned, her voice so soft now that it was just barely more than a whisper, it was like all the flirting they had been doing for the past months had finally caught up to them all at once. She was unable to remove her eyes from the entrancing green ones of the boy, until his lips moved.

“Just let me do this” He pleaded quietly “If I don’t I’ll probably go insane” He swore, eyebrows creased with worry as he searched her face desperately for some kind of green light, a go on, anything.

“Ok” Was the only thing she managed and he didn’t need more, immediately his lips were on hers and his hand reached up for her cheek.

Their eyes were closed as they finally got lost in all of that tension left finally free after six months of playing back and forth while messing their feelings up in every possible manner they found along the way, and gosh, it felt good.

Once they had separated for the first time he didn’t waste a moment before surrounding her with his arms and showering her with attention, he peppered kisses all over her lips, nose, and cheeks as they both stared at each other with huge goofy grins.

This Christmas had been full of clichés, but gosh, she definitely wasn’t about to complain.


	18. Usual suspects-26, Auld Acquaintance-27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The series end is near and Vixen thinks she's got it all mostly under control, there is a failiure in her plan though with which they'll have to deal, is this that part of the timeline she can't just change?

**WASHINGTON, D.C.**  
**December 30, 09:16EST**

Victoria grinned when Red Arrow was presented along with the rest of the new members of the Justice League, though she was dreading what happened next, what she’d have to talk about with him next.

“I’m glad they didn’t kick Billy out” Wally spoke over eating his apple “And I love the fact that there’s a 10-year-old on the league”

“There is?” Raquel asked surprised and Wally received a hit from both left and right, one from Vixen and one from Robin

“Way to keep a secret, genius,” Robin told him

“Hey, she’s on the team now, right?” Wally defended himself

They all saw as the new Leaguers got their membership cards on the screen, Raquel complained “You know, I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place, I should be outside celebrating with him, not hidden away in here”

“Welcome to our world” Aqualad smiled

“Well, I suppose there’s an upside too” She grinned while looking at Kaldur

Victoria grinned and reached up to touch Wally’s shoulder so he’d lean down to listen to her whispers “I bet you they’ll end up kissing at some point”

Wally narrowed his eyebrows at her “Really? I’m not getting on bets with you, you already know what will happen”

She shrugged “Actually, I’m kind of running out of a season one”

Wally’s eyes widened but before he could say anything she winked at him and pointed at the TV

 _“Finally, Green Arrow welcomes his former protégé, Speedy, now known as Red Arrow, to this roster of heroes”_ Kat Grant informed

“Way to go Roy!” Wally cheered

“At last, he has his wish” Kaldur smiled

“The first of us to make it, no one will call him a sidekick anymore,” Robin said proudly

“Wait, since when is being a sidekick a bad thing? You sidekicks were my inspiration” Raquel told them

“Well, see, six months ago it…” Robin was interrupted by an alarm on his wrist computer.

By the time The League had gotten inside to be received by the team, there was no one in the room.

 

 

**SMOKEY MOUNTAINS**  
**December 30, 10:48EST**

“A-are you sure it’s her? I-i mean, are you absolutely positive?” Artemis was asking Robin inside the bioship nervously

Vixen tried to ignore it but she herself could feel Wally’s glare.

“See for yourself,” Robin told her while filling the screens of the ship with images “This is the security footage from the Ashfield Regional Airport” He zoomed on the woman boarding the plane

“Facial recognition confirms that’s Jade Nguyen,” He continued informing “But you’ve seen her without her mask, what do you think?”

Artemis looked down sadly “It’s Jade, Cheshire”

“Agreed, but focus on what she carries” Aqualad spoke and the image shifted down to the case on her hands “Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away”

“Yes” She confirmed curtly

“Ok, I’m guessing from the mugshot that this Cheshire is the bad guy, but what’s so important about that case?” Rocket asked

“Remember the Injustice League?” Robin began explaining

“And their giant evil plants? Uh, yeah” She went matter-of-factly

“The team and the League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme”

“In fact, I think their allies are planning on doing much more damage” Vixen piped in

Aqualad continued after a nod “And whatever is in that containment case seems important to their plans”

“We had a chance to grab it in New Orleans” Kid Flash commented and glared at Artemis “But _someone_ screwed up” Artemis turned to him returning the glare

“Approaching Cheshire’s jet,” M’gann said, soon enough though everyone was gasping at the sight before them.

Vixen reached out for Artemis’ hand to reassure the pained girl as they observed a destroyed jet.

“Looks like there were no survivors…”

 

«•••»

 

**MOUNT JUSTICE**  
**December 30, 15:45EST**

The hard part of the mission hadn’t been getting the case or capturing the villains, in fact, that had been _too_ easy. But Vixen had gotten a bit of a scare after Supey’s rampage on Mammoth.

“Tell me if this sounds familiar” Batman spoke “You hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol and endangered your lives, and your initiative resulted in the capture of three estranged felons, proving Warden Strange runs Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity”

There was a pause.

“Well done” Batman smiled, Vixen beamed while the other’s looked between themselves confused “And then there’s this, biotechnology integrated with some form of nano-circuitry”

Vixen’s smile was gone and she glanced at Red, Batman had brought him with to the cave upon her asking

Icon examined the ships “Though I am unfamiliar with this species the biocomponent is clearly not of earth”

“We’ll take it to the watchtower for further studies” Batman lied, but only three others in the room knew that.

The Leaguers started leaving the room but Vixen rushed up to Red Arrow and grabbed his hand “Wait, stay a moment will you? You’ll have a great party at the Watchtower later so let us congratulate you first”

Roy looked at her with a raised eyebrow but ended up smirking “Already missing me?” He asked and reached up to mess up her hair, she slapped his hands “Anyways, it’s not like I won’t visit, if you need anything, just call”

His words warmed her up, she forgot momentarily why she needed him to stay, but Kid Flash was soon at her side speaking “Yeah, Roy, we _all_ can always count on you” He interrupted

Red was pretty amused.

When the other Leaguers had left the room Robin spoke up “You realize we were set up” Robin asked

“Yes,” Came Aqualad’s wise voice “Cheshire and Riddler were tipped and ready for us

“Not the mole thing again” Artemis complained

“Mole thing?” Rocket asked walking up to them “Again?”

This wasn’t the congratulations Red had been told he’d receive; Kid Flash spoke “We had intel that there was a traitor on the team”

“Namely Artemis, M’gann, or me” Superboy complained angrily

“It is more complicated than that” Aqualad told him, but Supey brushed him off walking away “But your recent behavior does concern me, your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis and Vixen killed”

 _‘If I was nearly killed back there with what I know then that was mostly my fault’_ Vixen admitted to herself

Superboy suddenly stopped and kneeled slightly as if in pain, then after a moment he responded to Aqualad’s call “There’s something I need to do, something I must tell you” Conner admitted with worry

“Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to CADMUS and found a few things out”

He began explaining his situation to everyone and Vixen wasn’t even trying to act surprised anymore, her secrets would come to light soon too.

“Lex Luthor” Robin exclaimed loudly “Is your _dad!?_ ”

“He summoned me to Santa Prisca” Conner finished.

Red Arrow couldn’t even speak as he made the math in his head, only a look from Vixen stopped him from saying anything, he knew he’d get an explanation from her

After a moment Artemis knew she was next “Ahh, listen, Superboy’s not the only one suffering from bad DNA”

Soon she had presented to them three holographic screens “My mother is Huntress, an ex-con, the rest of my family aren’t even ex. My dad’s _Sportsmaster_ and he’s sending my sister _Cheshire_ to fly me to Santa Prisca too”

Red really wanted to say something now, despite their bonding moment from before.

“That’s why—“ Wally began in realization, Vixen knew he was finally forgiving Artemis

“Yeah, I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out—“

“I knew,” Robin told her with a small smile and turned to Vixen who returned the smile

“Me too” The fox themed vigilante said everyone else in the room looked at them in surprise

“Hey, I’m a detective, but it never mattered, you aren’t your family” Robin reassured Artemis “You’re one of us”

The blonde relaxed finally after hearing his words and receiving a grin from Wally. The ginger boy took Vixen’s hand on his and looked at her reassuringly “So, who’s next?” He asked inviting her forwards.

“I am,” M’gann said with a frown

Wally tensed on his place looking up at the Martian as he hadn’t expected that “I swear I was kidding”

M’gann had shown them her true form, Vixen was wide-eyed, she was huge. But after the beautiful moment between the two aliens in the room, she knew it finally was her turn.

“So, I’m last” Vixen walked forwards and reached for the keyboard, soon, Artemis’ family was gone from the screen and a video from seven months ago appeared on screen “This was the day I entered this dimension” After her words the holo-screen showed as portal appeared from the sky, spitting her out until Batman caught her

The team was speechless “There is no record of me before that because I didn’t exist here, but it was easy for me to adapt to such a different world from mine because well” She turned to look at Wally who smiled at her reassuringly “On my world you are all fictional characters from comic books”

Vixen began explaining and at the end, Kaldur looked at her in understanding.

“That is why you were aware of what would happen with Red Tornado, there was no dream”

Vixen nodded “And there's one more thing”

“More?! How come there are so many secrets in here?” Red Arrow asked finally deciding he couldn't keep quiet much longer “And why is it that Kid Flash and Robin aren't phased with anything you've said?”

“Vixen needed someone who knew her secrets” Wally walked over back to her side and Robin followed “But it was dangerous to tell many people”

“So she told us and we both kept quiet without asking her much unless she needed us for something, like busting a pod out of Cadmus” Robin finished making everyone look even more baffled

“You snuck into Cadmus?” Conner asked confused “But then you took—“

Vixen interrupted him before Conner would suggest they took out Match “This one isn't my secret exactly, it's Roy's”

Now he was about to lose it “Me? What does this have to do with—“

He was interrupted by a tranquilizing dart Robin had managed to hit his neck with, Red Arrow, with his guard down, fell to the floor and the rest of the team panicked.

“Why would you do that?!” Artemis exclaimed

“Because we need to remove any programming from his mind before we explain everything to him” Vixen spoke rushing to pick up the fallen hero

“Programming? Why would he have any programming?” Conner asked what she was implying with those words

“The Roy Harper we know has been a Cadmus clone all along” Kid Flash informed, the team was shocked.

«•••»

**MOUNT JUSTICE**  
**December 31st, 06:53**

“That explains it” Roy spoke from his seat on the couch.

After removing the programming and leaving the unconscious Roy in bed they couldn't waste much more time before going to Santa Prisca. They executed their plan, getting rid of their blackmailers and capturing them.

That night Batman postponed the induction party at the League's headquarters, so most of the League was home and the Starotech in the Batcave.

“I was a sleeper agent, pre-programmed to infiltrate The League, I think Sportsmaster was my handler” He continued and distractedly took in his hands the mug Vixen was offering him “He had a key-phrase... _’Broken Arrow’_ that could shut me down, put me in a hypnotic state to steal secrets for his superiors or incorporate further programming

“I'd then carry out all orders subconsciously, completely unaware of what drove me. I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion on the three of you” He said looking up at Artemis and the two aliens in the room “I'm sorry”

“It's Ok, we could avoid the Starotech from entering the watchtower and—“ Vixen was interrupted but Red's eyes widened

“No, I still had one with me when we came to the cave”

“One? How did you get your hand— _Who_ has it?” Vixen reacted in panic

She saw the plan crumbling before her, if Batman had it then—

“I remember speaking with Icon, he had one at hand and I asked to see it, then...”

«•••»

Both Robin and Vixen got back to Mount Justice after some investigation, Batman was missing from the cave and so was the rest of the Starotech.

Once they walked inside though Green Arrow was filling for the Bats accompanied by Red Tornado.

“Kids, I have some things to inform you”

Vixen glared at the man and saw the rest of the team tensing at him. Robin looked at her for a moment before jumping at the green-clad hero.

“They have the Starotech!” The boy wonder yelled and the team sprung to action.

Finally stopping the first hero and with Red Tornado malfunctioning Vixen managed to slip the cure into their necks.

It was wild

“If Batman isn't here...” Vixen spoke out as they let the Leaguers recover “Then what happened to him?”

“He had gotten rid of most the Starotech” Kid Flash spoke “Since he knew so much...I don't think they wanted to risk him stopping their plans”

«•••»

Thankfully at the end, they had most of the League on their side as they hadn’t been in the Watchtower at the time. Unconscious, but not fighting them.

The end happened very much like originally. But Vandal Savage hadn't entered the Watchtower, it had become too risky since Batman had disappeared to make sure most of the Leaguers had the cure of Starotech after he had made contact with Robin and Vixen so they couldn't be controlled.

“Congratulations team, you have won the day” Tornado spoke from his place on the floor, it managed to calm Vixen down

“HAPPY NEW YEAR, JUSTICE LEAGUE” The computer spoke presenting a clock and some soft music started playing like it came out of a music box.

Kid Flash smiled at Vixen and picked her up on his arms “We haven't really talked about what happened during Christmas”

“Later,” She said with a grin surrounding his neck with her arms and then closing the gap between them.

The rest of the team followed, even Kaldur got a kiss on the corner of his lips from Rocket.

Tornado was still on the floor “Human costumes still elude me”

«•••»

“Everything I thought I knew about myself was a lie, I’m not a hero or a Sidekick” Red Arrow lamented “I'm a traitor, a pawn”

“Roy, it'll be alrigh—“

“I'm not Roy” He interrupted Canary “I don't know what I am”

“I do” Vixen spoke up and they turned to look at her “You're Speedy, Red Arrow, whatever you want to call yourself, you became your own individual after you got out from that pod, you might not be the Roy Harper who became Speedy first, but you're the only Roy Harper the team knows”

She placed some pics on the computer “Talk to Superboy if you'd like, you're not the only clone here with anger management issues” She said and pulled up a video from her escape into Cadmus “And you can move on from this when we take Roy out of his pod”

His eyes widened at the image of the boy before them. After some thought, he managed a nod, relief.

«•••»

**WAYNE MANOR**  
**January 1st, 04:36**

A lot happened afterward, Guardian was told about being a clone too, The Light unable of taking anything out of CADMUS anymore as The League went to take care of it. Red Arrow along with Green Arrow took the original Roy Harper out of the pod he was being kept in and took him to a hospital.

It had been a very long day and Victoria hoped that was all; there was always a constant nagging on her head that she could do more, that maybe she missed something, but she reviewed her notes and thoughts over and over, making sure there really wasn’t, she was in fact just being paranoid.

She had revealed every member of The Light and their plan, or at least the first two parts of it.

No Reach invasion, no trial for The League.

The final reassurance to herself that she had in fact done what she could... made her legs feel weak, the final relief after so much stress not keeping her up on her feet, thankfully Wally was right by her side, having accompanied her and Robin back to the manor and now helping her up in worry.

“You Ok?” He asked trying to walk her up the stairs.

Dick was long gone, collapsed in his room and warned them not to talk to him until it was 5 pm; Boy wonder hadn’t slept in a couple of days.

Victoria smiled gratefully up at him “Yeah, just relieved” She felt the corners of her eyes and her nose burning, making the red-head panic slightly as he saw the watery pupils.

“I know an alien invasion was just prevented, but you seem much more relieved somehow, I’d have figured you’d be boasting, I mean, yeah, the stress is out now, but…” he told her as they reached her room but he couldn’t find more words to explain himself

Victoria opened the door with her free hand and released herself from him to walk and sit on her bed by herself, “I know how big what we just evaded was but the thing is the invasion would have at least been stopped with or without me; not that I’m trying to make it seem like I didn’t do much, heck, I know I did a lot,

“but The Reach in the original timeline did something I am not sure I could have stopped and I was so tense about that happening, about failing and—“ She had started rambling but was stopped by Wally sitting down beside her and holding her hand tight, concern etched all over his face

“It’s over Vic, and if you want to cry from relief over whatever could have happened you can. But know this, you did stop it, whenever it was, sooner or later you did it, that makes it no less of a victory” he smiled intent on reassuring her “You don’t have to worry about it anymore”

She knew this, gosh she had been trying to get over the fact that it was real after having tortured herself over a negative outcome for months, but the fact he was repeating it to her out loud, him! The person she was worried about losing over mistakes! Made the whole thing just crash harder on her.

She reached out to him and Wally was suddenly enveloped by Victoria crashing on him with a tight hug as she sobbed on his chest. He let her with a small smile, one hand reaching out to hug her back and the other caressing her hair softly from top to end.

They remained like that a couple of moments before her sobs died out and she just held onto him, eyes closed and exhausted. Finally, he spoke up again.

He wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t question it, if it would be too much, but his mouth reacted faster again “What happened originally that we didn’t get to stop?”

Victoria pulled her head away from the embrace slightly so she could look up at Wally, she pulled herself together to admit it finally, after all, it wouldn’t happen, not anymore. “After the Reach was defeated they set up the Earth to be destroyed with various artifacts all around it” She reminded him and he nodded attentively remembering her mentioning it at the Watchtower through her explanation

“There were so many of them one went unnoticed until it was too late to reach it, unless of course, you are the fastest man alive” her explanation continued “By the time Flash got there though the artifact had already started the process from which there would be no going back. Intent on stopping it Flash started running opposite to the way the artifact was so that he could generate enough kinetic energy to stop it from doing any damage

“It wasn’t enough with him though” And Bart but she didn’t think she could explain Bart at this moment “So when you heard about it you rushed to help him” Wally had an unreadable expression but had tensed slightly at her words “Together you started creating enough kinetic energy, but since you were slower the energy from the artifact found a way out through you” By this point she was trying to calm down her trembling fingers

Wally reached out for one of her hands with his, rubbing circles on the back of it with his thumb as he waited for her to continue, guessing what was coming “You died saving the world” She finished “Gone, there was no episode after that, the series was canceled and a third one after years of silence was supposed to release this year but as you can guess I couldn't watch it. So you were gone, there was a funeral, your projection was set on the watchtower and the more I stayed on this world

“The more I couldn’t bear to imagine that you could die, Wally, I hated to think about it, that it was possible, but I had to!” She closed her eyes tight “I was so scared that it would happen again and right in front of my eyes, you stopped being a character months ago, I can’t lose you for real”

Wally was speechless over what he heard, but finally he tightened his hold on her hand and around her, dragging her back against him in comfort “I am here Vic, I’m not going anywhere, beautiful” He smiled against her hair, closing his eyes while she leaned comfortably against him too emotionally exhausted to even hum in answer “You saved me” He whispered softly and gratefully.

Grateful for having her in his life, for having such a wonderful person care so much about him, grateful that she had finally released everything that had been bothering her for so long as she finally drifted off in his arms.

Wally West thought he was insanely lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost at the end! I want to add one last conclusive chapter to explore and determine Wally's and the main character's relationship, thank you for following through this story, the kudos are all appreciated and so are the comments!


	19. Pink-28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a couple of things that had not yet been cleared up, things started being like this since Halloween and it's time to finally get them out to light. 
> 
> Final chapter, after this I'm planning on writing a series of One-shots for Wally's relationship with the Main character once their relationship has finally kicked off.

**WAYNE MANOR**   
**January 1st, 10:24**

Victoria shifted in her bed, waking at the feeling of a hand shaking her softly. With a groan, she finally opened her eyes to see who was bothering her to —not surprisingly— find Dick looking at her with a knowing smirk.

How is it that he had the will to wake up before her? Last night (This morning?) he had told them to not even go near his room until 5 pm! She glanced at her clock to make sure it wasn't that late and then looked back up at him. His hair was messed up, his eyes baggy, and yet Richard Grayson was smirking at her first thing in the morning.

“Good morning, _dear, precious, beloved_ sister” He grinned and every sort of alarms went off in her head as she focused on his face through her tired vision.

“What do you want?” She asked suspiciously

“Well, it's not like I didn't see you very willingly kissing Wally last night” He began, making her cheeks warm “But of course we had other pressing matters so I couldn't say much about it, yet imagine my joy as I come into your room to tease you and find the guy perched in your couch”

As he finished his sentence Dick's gaze lingered past her, Victoria turned to see, remembering how she had fallen asleep and realizing that in fact at some point last night, Wally had migrated from her bed to the couch and was currently snoring softly and drooling with a sheet sprawled over his form to cover only half of his leg and stomach.

She had little time to marvel at the sweetness of the situation because once she turned back to her brother she saw him wiggling his eyebrows at her. Gosh, warm moments past, she wanted to tear that grin off his face.

“So, what had you said before? That thing about how you two would never share a romantic relationship?”

He received a pillow to his face and laughed as quietly as he was able to so the red-head wouldn’t wake up.

“Oh shut up, I saw you and Zatanna last night too” She claimed feeling her face get warmer

“And that was great indeed, but this isn't about me, you've already teased me enough about Zatanna, I can finally get my revenge” Dick had grinned “And you owe me anyway, after all if it weren’t with me you guys would just be depressed and friend-zoned”

“Why?” She asked suspiciously “Not like I’m not grateful to you being there, but are you implying you actually got involved?”

“Those are little details we will all laugh about one day” He quickly tried to evade, she wasn't liking his phrasing “Point is! You are together now and it’s thanks to me butting in, kinda figured out I’m a good cupid after I saw the security tape from Christmas, besides how Wally just kept babbling about your kiss of course, I've been holding back on saying anything ever since”

She stiffened and then looked at him shyly “He did?”

“Of course he did, gosh, I want so bad to tell you his exact words and reactions but, maybe later” He chuckled at the grinning girl in front of him

She was getting so excited hearing this, she knew how much Wally really cared but to actually know he gushed about her after their kiss was the sweetest thing in the world, she stopped her excitement a moment “I don’t actually know if we’re dating” she admitted

He looked at her as if she had grown a third-eye “What do you mean you don’t know if you are dating?”

“We haven’t cleared that up or asked each other out and I know this is pretty much implied, it’s not like I doubt anymore how much he cares about me” She quickly tried to reassure “But still, after seeing how Artemis and Wally had been in the original timeline I think I have the right to be at least a little insecure over this” She rubbed her arm sheepishly.

Dick paused there a moment “Sorry, I am still just kinda shocked you’re not dating yet”

“Didn't you say you had seen the security tape from the cave?” She asked him surprised, still whispering as they saw Wally turn a little in his sleep.

“I was too tired, I fell asleep after you started making out” He deadpanned “I _did_ skip a little because I have a slight sense of privacy and felt I was invading your moment and private memories”

She raised an eyebrow “A really small sense of privacy” He waved her off.

“Point is, I was right, you were wrong, and I can't believe you don't know if you are dating or not”

“Oh, what would you know?”

He snorted “More than you! I had insight to the thoughts of you both, it was so frustrating! I had to talk Wally out of his sad state after Halloween and then he became pretty nervous about asking you out after that”

Her eyes widened “He was ignoring me, why though? What do you know about that?” She questioned him.

“Well,” Dick paused “Um, well he just imagined maybe you weren’t interested in him, so he grew worried”

“Precisely during Halloween? After I clearly told you nothing would happen between us?” Everything was clicking and Dick was getting pretty nervous now “What did you tell him? How _exactly_ did you butt in?” She barked getting up from her bed as he stepped back, a pillow at hand to protect himself.

“What did you say? You snitch!” Her voice grew louder and she threw a pillow at his face as strongly as she could.

Soon, there were feathers flying all around the room.

“You know, Alfred's not going to like this and I don't wanna be here when he finds the disaster” Dick and Vic turned to see Wally looking at them in amusement from his seat on the couch.

«•••»

The teens were down at the dining table and any evidence of the pillow fight gotten rid off, now the bat-kids only had to hope Alfred wouldn’t notice how much lighter the pillows felt.

“What have your parents said? You’ve been gone for a while” Victoria asked the red-head over a spork-full of scrambled eggs.

“I answered their messages after you fell asleep, then called them before I ended up completely gone in the couch, they’re Okay with it, we’re going to have a family dinner later tonight to celebrate anyway” He explained “Barry often celebrates the New Year at the Watchtower so we made it tradition to celebrate together the night after.”

“That’s pretty cool…Hey, Dic—“

“Just go ahead Wally, get Vicky more fuel for the family traditions she wants to set us up for” The boy wonder interrupted her sister making her pout

“Don’t be such a sour-butt, you absolutely loved how we spent Christmas” She claimed then looking at Wally “The only reason he is complaining right now is because he wants to look tough”

They talked for a bit longer before finishing their late breakfast and as Wally was preparing to leave Dick gave him a meaningful look that made him tense on his place.

The red-head, not wanting to be the victim to his best friend’s shenanigans if he didn’t react fast enough decided to do as he does best, react fast.

“I really gotta go now, besides, I know Alfred loves me, deep inside, but I’m sure he doesn’t appreciate it when I completely raid your fridge” Wally grinned and looked pointedly at Vic “Can I use the Batcave’s zeta? I’m still kinda tired”

Vic smiled at him and nodded with Dick giving Wally a thumbs up from behind her “Sure, come on”

“I still need to catch up on sleep, I woke up to some downloading files so I should check on them” Dick called out clearly not following them through the grandfather clock entrance.

«•••»

As Wally and Victoria reached the tube at the cave after a silent walk down, both teens were lost in their own thoughts.

“This morning you were calling Dick a snitch” Wally began curiously “Why was that?”

Victoria snorted turning back to him “I’m not actually completely sure, he came over to tease me and then blurted out that he knew why you had been ignoring me after Halloween” She looked at him with a questioning eyebrow “Anything you’d finally like to share?”

Wally gulped, obviously, this would have come up sooner or later, he would have much more preferred later, but by the looks of it this was the last call “Well, I wasn’t really ignoring you, it was more like—“

“Wally” Victoria warned and the boy sighed.

“I overheard your conversation with Dick on Halloween” He frowned, Victoria blanched as she remembered what exactly she had yelled at Dick that day, Wally continued “That’s why I avoided you, I felt completely embarrassed because, you know” He looked up at her with pained eyes “Because I was pretty sure we had something going on there and then all that idea was completely shattered just like that”

Victoria looked at him full of guilt, he had never been meant to hear that at all, much less to care, since at that time Victoria had been so sure he’d end up with Artemis anyway “I-I didn’t mean that” She still felt the need to explain herself “I was just being dumb because I didn’t think you actually meant your flirting, I'm sorry”

Wally interrupted her with a smile “Hey, it’s fine, I know” He scratched his neck “That’s what Dick talked to me about, in fact,” He knew he was about to throw his best friend under the bus, but it was for a good reason so, Dick would forgive him, eventually.

At her questioning and still worried gaze he smiled warmly and continued “After you and I talked, when the adults disappeared I told him what I had heard and he kinda panicked that I was getting the wrong idea; he quickly told me you were worried about getting heartbroken, that in the original timeline you had seen me fall in love with someone else” He looked up at Victoria, searching for a reaction and getting greeted by her embarrassed gaze on the floor.

“Dick was so panicky, you know?” He tried to lighten up the moment “Ended up blurting out that I would have fallen in love with Artemis if you didn't exist”

“Of course he did” Victoria glared trying to be playful, but she still had embarrassment etched all over her face “Did that change anything? Did that influence your feelings on me?”

“God, no!” Wally said quickly “I- to be honest I just entered in more of a panic, I grew more worried, nervous about how to show you I liked _you_ ” He admitted with narrowed eyebrows “Step on my shoes, your crush wants no romantic relationship with you because she can’t realize she already changed your entire world just by existing” His cheeks were burning red by this point, but if he wasn’t completely honest right now he could mess this all up.

Actually, that was the advice Dick gave him, either he blurted everything out right now or risked more misunderstandings. Victoria looked straight into his eyes and his hands were clammy, even through everything that had happened between them he felt completely nervous and exposed now as he tried not to look anywhere else after some simple words.

She started smiling softly “It’s just really hard to even entertain the idea that your crush was meant to be with someone else but fell for you regardless." She paused "To think that I could change such a thing felt like thinking of myself _too_ highly; how could this wonderful boy fall for an outsider he hadn’t been _meant_ to even meet?”

“I was meant to meet you” He firmly told her and reached out for her hands with his “I _did_ meet you, the other timeline doesn’t matter if you got here anyway to change it, you changed our fate, you changed our battles, stopped a war from even happening, how is it so hard to accept that you changed my whole world?” His grip on her hands tightened as his eyes never left hers.

Victoria grinned wide staring straight into Wally’s eyes, she couldn’t see herself anywhere else but just falling deeper and deeper for him, gosh, she was completely lost on him, so this time she was the one that jumped out to crash her lips on his.

Wally didn’t complain, his hands left hers only to reach around her waist and pull her closer. They couldn’t help grinning into the kiss again, it felt like they wouldn’t be sharing one that didn’t include bumping teeth anytime soon, but Wally honestly felt like the fact that they were bumping teeth _because_ they were grinning so wide only made the kiss that much better.

They separated only slightly, holding each other and swaying in place softly.  
  
"Are we dating?" She asked him looking up and Wally looked down at her with a funny grin.  
  
"If you'd be my girlfriend" He said happily and she hummed in agreement, that was one other thing out of the way.

“You’re the most amazing person Wally, I’m always looking for you at the cave because I can’t get bored if _you’re_ with me, I ask your opinion because you’re one of the smartest people I’ve _ever_ met” Her words made his stomach flutter and twist, as if he hadn’t had enough already of listening to this beautiful girl showing him how much she cared, now she was complimenting him relentlessly, it was intoxicating, if she didn’t stop he’d just explode

So he intervened “There’s always this look in your eyes when you talk about the things you love” he began “You light up, you start talking fast and excitedly, even if you’re trying to cover it up and that’s the sweetest thing in the world, how you smile, how happy you are, I get so engaged in _everything_ you say, and then your eyes change colors, they become this beautiful and vibrant shade of—“

Victoria would cry if he went on, but she still asked “Shade of what?”

He paused, as if he was realizing something for the first time and looked her straight in the eyes, his goofy smile growing impossibly bigger before he finished, taking in the color of her eyes at that very moment “Pink” He breathed out “I always get this feeling when you look at me and I stare into pink, because it has to mean I am doing something right” His voice wavered slightly.

She gave out a watery laugh as he held her closer, his eyes burning from the corners too as he appreciated the moment they were sharing, what his life had become.

Their future now was uncertain, everything had changed since she got there, she had no idea what would happen next and they were young, but gosh.  
  
For once not knowing was wonderful. Because it meant he would share that with her, he would be there to hold her all the way through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this story has barely just started, there are so many things I'd still like to cover! But it would be too much for only this fic, so I'm planning on writing a series of one-shots to develop it further, I hope you guys are into reading these after so long! I'm planing on these stories to be read as stand-alone's too, so no one feels obligated to read "Oops! Spoilers" if they want to catch onto the one shots.


End file.
